Sleepover
by wellifant
Summary: Slightly AU. when Gibbs finds out Abby scared and sleeping in her lab, how much can he do to protect her. bad summary i know, hopefully you'll find the story's better. Could do with a new title, any suggestions?
1. Chapter 1

DISCLAIMER: - DO NOT OWN AT ALL WISH I DID THOUIGH, HOW COOL WOULD THAT BE!!! ;-)

A/N – THIS IS MY FIRST EVER FIC, SO REVIEWS WOULD BE NICE, LET ME KNOW WHAT YOU THINK.

Slowly lifting his head Gibbs came to the logical conclusion that he had yet again fallen asleep at his desk. Rubbing his hands across his eyes he tried to remember how many times this had happened in the past week, 3 or 4 as far as he could remember.

Damn this case was really pushing him, well not just him, the whole team was starting to suffer. Glad he'd finally seen sense and sent them home to get some well earned rest.

Glancing around his desk his eyes were drawn to several items that he knew weren't there when he had closed his eyes to relax.

Reaching out he grabbed the coffee that sat by his keyboard, taking a deep swallow he grimaced as he realized it was barely lukewarm, it was then he noticed the note that must have been underneath.

"drink this"

He smiled to himself, he'd would have recognized that hand writing in his sleep.

Slowly reaching for the next item that had been placed next to the now cold coffee, he found a slightly stale , not particularly appetizing sandwich, the note under this read:

"_**eat this" **_

Ignoring that message he reached for the last note, it was wedged under another piece of paper so he picked them both up and separated them as he read:

"_**see me :-)"**_

The second piece of paper show a photo of his favorite lab tech smiling back at the grin that was spreading across his face. No matter what was going on, Abby had a way of bringing out his soft side.

Flipping the photo in his hand he noticed there was more writing on the back.

"_**if you come down before eating then remember how many ways I could kill you and not leave any evidence!"**_

At this he laughed , even with no- one to hear him, it felt good to have something to smile about. The world would definitely become a darker place when Abby could no longer do that to him.

Glancing at his watch he wondered if she was still in the lab, gone 2330, he doubted she would still be there, probably went when he sent the others home. Worth checking though. So he reached over and grabbed the remote for the plasma screen. Leaning back in his chair he stared suspiciously at it, then pointed it at the large screen and pressed what he hoped were the right buttons.

Instantly the forensic lab flashed on to the screen, though through the darkness that appeared Gibbs was pretty sure that there was no-one there, even the audio seemed quiet, no machines or computers hummed, beeped or whirred.

Strange though, that Abby would leave him that note then not stay to let him know what she wanted, if it was urgent she would have woken him, he was sure of that.

Trusting his gut as usual, he slid his chair back and started purposefully towards the elevator, only slowing to dump the sandwich into the bin by McGee's desk, hoping he wouldn't notice in the morning.

As he waited for elevator to make its way up from the lab he began letting his mind wander towards Abby, he'd known her enough years to know when something was bothering her, but unusually enough she'd not been showing any signs of wanting to talk to him, she'd been just as bouncy and enthusiastic as always. Teasing Tony, gossiping with Ziva and Ducky in the lab and flirting mercilessly with McGee.

Not that it was any of his business who she flirted with, though in his opinion McGee didn't stand a chance, Abby would eat him alive if he ever had the gall to take her up on some of her offers.

Ignoring the flare that started in his chest when he thought of any one touching his lab tech, Gibbs stepped into the elevator and pressed the button that would take him down to Abby's domain.

As the doors pinged open he looked expectantly at his hand before realizing he hadn't picked up the coffee Abby had left him, even if it was cold, it was still good and walking into the lab without some sort of caffeine offering was definitely something even he couldn't get away with. Contemplating whether to return and retrieve the drink he looked out through the doors into the lab, though quiet and dark, the lab didn't seem to be deserted, there was some sort of presence that caught his attention.

Out of curiosity he stepped through the doors and into the darkened room, realising as the elevator doors shut that, it wasn't quite as dark and quiet as he had first thought. A slight glow emanated from Abby's work station through the glass doors and there was a dull low thud that even he recognized as the bass line to something only Abby would listen to.

Carefully as not to disturb her if she was working, he wove his way around the door and stepped into the main room of the lab. His initial assessment had been correct, none of the machines were working, the computers were dark and Abby was no where to be seen. Being the top investigator every one believed him to be he deduced that the noise was coming from inside Abby's office, behind the glass sliding doors towards the back of the lab.

Working towards the light and sounds Gibbs made a mental note to get the Director to put some sort of security lighting in the lab, damn place was dark and creepy in the dark, not that Abby minded he was sure, right up her street he guessed, but he'd do it anyway, anything to make things easier for her to do her job.

Finally reaching the glass partition he placed his forehead against the glass and tried to peer through.

In the dim light things were a little blurred and his eyesight didn't help either.

Slowly his eyes adjusted and through the blur he made out a figure curled by the desk, smiling inwardly he noted with sadness that this wasn't the first time recently he found Abby asleep in her office or under her desk, he doubted it would be the last either, if only he could convince her that she was safe.

He'd promised that nothing would hurt her, ever, and he'd meant that with everything he had, but after everything she'd been through over the past year or so, even he couldn't remove the fear that flashed in her eyes whenever she thought no one way looking.

Oh sure she'd been as energetic and hyperactive as always, and if you didn't know, she seemed to be the Abby every knew and loved dearly, but if you watched carefully, you could see the glimmers of doubt, fear and anxiety creep into her, affecting the brightness that was Abby, the way she was kept the whole team together, it would never cease to amaze him how easily it all came to her, even if in his eyes she was pushing herself to keep her mind and her sanity whole.

Hoping that the automatic doors wouldn't disturb the sleeping lab tech, Gibbs stepped into the office.

She'd know he was here, even while asleep she'd sense him. That was one thing that would never change between them. Even when she feigned ignorance of him walking up behind her, her smile gave her away, she enjoyed him being close, it made her feel safe, protected. Thats all he wanted.

Even if his body's reaction to her physical presence neglected that fact. All he ever wanted to do is keep Abby safe.

Quietly in the hope that Abby wouldn't wake, Gibbs made his way through the doors and up to the desk. Crouching down and tipping forward on the balls of his feet, Gibbs felt his knee protest, some things just didn't get better with age.

Leaning forward he brushed a loose strand of hair away from Abby's unopened eyes, his fingers lingered against her skin a second longer than was strictly necessary, Gibbs couldn't help but think how untroubled she appeared, so peaceful and relaxed, however much was going on around her this is how she deserved to be at all times, he'd do anything to let it be that way for her.

Drifting away into his own mind Gibbs became more than painfully aware of how deep his feeling for Abby really were, oh, he'd realized long ago that he thought more of her than he should but apart from his repeated promises to keep her safe, and protect her there really was no more he could do for her. His own rules prevented anything, though even he couldn't imagine that beautiful goth sleeping in front of him would be interested anyway. Not that he hadn't noticed the way she acted when he appeared in the lab, unfortunately for him, that was Abby, she'd always been the same with him, affectionate and teasing. And although normally she took a while to warm to new members of the team, ordinarily she treated them the same as she did him, though not with the same effervescence that she reserved for him, but thats what came with familiarity.

Although he knew she was sleeping too deeply to be pleasant if woken, Gibbs decided he couldn't let Abby spend the night in a cold lab, he'd have to wake her and get her home where at least she'd be comfortable, or if she protested as he thought she might. there was always his spare room, there'd been times in the past Abby had become a fixture in his house for various reasons, it might be nice to have some company to take his mind away from the current case

As he shifted to release some of the pressure on his knees he realised that Abby was no longer asleep, but had propped herself up on one hand and was watching him closely, by the look on her face, she had been for a while. Guiltily Gibbs looked away, he must have been Daydreaming for longer than he thought,

"hi" Abby sounded so sleepy as she slowly stretched out her legs, her arms reached past her head to catch him unawares and push him off balance, forcing him to sit back and draw his knees up. The mischievous grin on her face not quite reaching her eyes but making him smile anyway.

"hi, isn't your bed at home more comfortable than this Ab's?"

"i know Gibbs, but I was tired, besides its not like you never do it" Abby's counter argument came a little too quickly, making Gibbs realise she'd thought about this a little too much. Suddenly another thought came into his head.

"Abby, when was the last time you slept in your own bed?" he didn't want to hear the answer, knew that whatever it was he'd been missing something, some investigator he was.

Looking towards Abby he knew he wasn't going to a answer easily, she was looking away refusing to meet his eyes. Now he didn't even need to ask, he knew that she'd been sleeping in her lab for longer than just tonight. How long didn't matter right now, all he knew was that he'd missed it and that was something he would never forgive in one of his other agents, especially as it was about the one person he cared more about than any case they could ever work on.

"come on" hoisting Abby to her feet wasn't the easiest thing for him to do as he tried to right himself up " my spare room's calling you, grab your stuff."

looking around Gibbs grabbed the stuffed hippo she was so inexplicably attached to and started to walk out the door.

"sorry Gibbs" turning around he realised that Abby had tears streaming down her face "thought I'd be able to get through this on my own, you're going to want to talk about this aren't you?"

stepping towards her Gibbs pulled Abby into his arms. "later maybe, right now you need a good night's sleep and possibly a shot or two of jack. When you're ready we'll talk about this. Now shift, some of us need to sleep"

shoving her gently towards the elevator Gibbs realised it was going to be a long night if Abby wanted to talk, but an even longer one if she didn't. With the first option she'd relax, sleep well and be back to her usual self in no time, with the second she'd mentally retreat and he'd have to spend hours, possibly days coaxing her out of her shell and more than likely his basement so that she could conquer whatever was starting to eat her up inside


	2. Chapter 2

**again, i don't own this, this is for fun.**

**yet again reviews are good, thank you to all who have already reviewed, keep them coming. :-)**

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She'd practically bounced to his car, jabbering constantly about several things all at once, It was enough to make Gibbs head hurt, enough to make him wonder why he had offered to let Abby stay at his. Almost enough to ask himself if there really was anything wrong, and this wasn't just Abby being overly sensitive about a dumped boyfriend or her favorite machine breaking down again.

At least until he caught the way she flinched away from his arm, as he reached past her, being as ever the gentleman, to open the door.

Just seeing that small movement. The way she froze almost instantly hoping that he hadn't noticed, that flash of fear again within her unusually dark eyes, all this in the one person he was convinced was as strong as he was, if not more so, almost broke his resolve to let her talk at her own pace. It took all he had not to shake her until she told him just what was going on.

Sighing inwardly to himself, Gibbs pulled Abby into her second hug of the night, now fairly convinced it wouldn't be the last.

"What's happened to you Abs."

It wasn't a question, but the concern in his voice as he whispered into her hair caused hot tears to stream down Abby's face. Pulling away Gibbs used the sleeve of his jacket to gently wipe the wetness from under her eyes, tilting Abby's face towards him he leaned down and brushed her cheek with his lips.

"Lets get you that shot of jack" guiding her into the seat of his car, watching her buckle herself in and curl up as much as she could, Gibbs realised just how fragile Abby looked now she was out of the darkness of the Lab.

And finally as he was turning out of the parking garage, the one detail that had been evading him since he'd found her asleep came to him, she was so pale, more so than usual, but only because he now became aware of the lack of make up on her, no mascara running from her now puffy eyes, no dark lipstick accentuating the lips that on more than one occasion he could swear were calling to him to touch and caress.

As soon as those thoughts entered his head Gibbs pushed them away. Now was not the time or the place. Abby needed him focused, not concentrating on thoughts that had been invading his mind more and more over the past months, ever since her own personal crazed stalker had forced her into hiding in Gibbs basement.

Pulling into his driveway he glanced in the direction of the exhausted Lab Tech in his passenger seat, Gibbs realised she hadn't fallen asleep on the short drive back to his house as he'd hoped she would.

Although she had been silent since the parking lot, she'd obviously been thinking, trying to pull some strength from somewhere deep inside her. Because now she looked straight at him, a strange half smile on her lips as she turned to open the car door.

"Can I have coffee instead of bourbon?" the tone of her voice was surprisingly light, almost cheerful. "that is unless you want me to spend the night with my head down the toilet, haven't been able to touch the stuff since the last time I was here"

Gibbs smiled to himself remembering finding Abby, halfway through his favorite bottle and the violent vomiting session that had followed.

"What ever you want Abs, you know where it is. I'll just grab my stuff from the trunk be there in a minute, go on in."

He turned round expecting her to be bounding towards his front door, swinging the door back so that it slammed against the wall in a way that only she seemed to know how to do. Instead he found her within inches of his chest, her hippo that she'd grabbed from the back seat held against her like a shield.

Abby looked straight at him, seemingly not worried about him seeing just how scared she was.

"Will you lock the door?"

It was almost a whisper, and Gibbs wasn't entirely sure if he had heard her right.

"Okay" he drew out the word while thinking quickly to himself.

"And close the windows?" again barely audible.

This time Gibbs hesitated, but seeing the pleading in her eyes there was no way he was going to refuse. "sure, anything you want."

Abby knew that he could be sloppy when it came to his own security, but then he had so little left after the divorces that it wasn't a huge problem. Hell if anyone could get the boat out of his basement they were more than welcome to it. But it had never bothered Abby before, even with her stalker on the loose she hadn't said one word about him bolting the door or closing the windows.

"Thank you Gibbs" Abby lent towards him, wrapping her arms around his waist for yet another hug. Unable to hold her due to the bags hanging from his hands Gibbs placed a gently kiss on the top of her head, which seemed to relax her body even closer to his.

"Come on,lets get you inside" although he'd be quite happy to stay, being kept warm by Abby, for the rest of the night, Gibbs realised that she was starting to shiver, not just from the cold, but also he suspected, from fear.

Looking up and smiling weakly, Abby reached down and grappled one of the bags from his hand, linked her fingers through his and let him lead the way up to his front door.

She never left his side the entire time he was checking the house, looking over his shoulder as he bolted the front door, rechecking every window latch as soon as he'd turned away from it, even on the first floor where he knew the windows were impossible to get to. Abby even eyed the basement door with not so hidden suspicion.

"Its okay Abs" Gibbs stood behind her, letting his hands gently massage her tense back, not feeling any of the muscles relax beneath his fingers. "the windows down there don't open, we don't need to check them."

At that she relaxed, surprising Gibbs as he felt her starting to fall forwards, grabbing her at the last moment and pulling her against him as they both slid to the floor, using the wall as support Gibbs was able to stop himself crashing down on top of her. Slowly Abby slid up his body until her head rested on his chest, her legs curled tightly beneath her. Wrapping her in the tightest hug of the night Gibbs smoothed her hair, slowly soothing her as tears soaked through his shirt, listening as the sobs turned into whispered word that broke his heart.

"He won't hurt me again.......he won't hurt me again.......he won't hurt me again......"grasping at the front of his shirt Abby looked up, her green eyes imploring him as she spoke. "don't let him hurt me again Gibbs."

Pulling her against him as firmly as he could, Gibbs kissed the top of her head, not trusting himself to speak until he'd fully processed what she was saying.

"He won't Abby, I've got you, you're safe here now, with me.......I'll protect you."

Knowing thats excatly what he'd do with the rest of his life if she'd let him, Gibbs gently rocked Abby as he continued to smooth and kiss her hair while he waited for the sobs that were wracking her body to stop.

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**do you think this chapter works, just feel it doesn't seem to go very far?**

**i've got a fair idea on what is going to happen over the next (?don't know how many) chapters but suggestions are always welcome.**


	3. Chapter 3

DISCLAIMER - WISH I DID BUT I DON'T OWN ANY OF THEM.

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Someone had hurt Abby, someone had hurt HIS Abby, and now someone was going to regret it.

The thoughts raged through Gibbs' head as he laid against the wall, desperately trying to ignore the throbbing in his knee. Abby hadn't elaborated on anything, through the sobbing all he could make out was the pleading that ripped through him as effectively as any bullet.

Using the side of his leg to lift his sleeve, Gibbs looked at the dial on his watch, squinting to get the numbers in the half light that was coming through the window from the moon outside. Sighing deeply he noted it was still relatively early, 2am, 3 hours since he'd found Abby asleep in her lab, 2 hours since they'd stared to seal themselves in the house and only 1 hour since she'd begged him to protect her.

Just over half an hour ago the sobbing had died down and Abby had drifted into sleep,curled with her head on his lap as he stroked her hair, murmuring occasionally but otherwise peaceful, Gibbs had managed to doze for a few minutes before jerking awake as he recollected the past few weeks and tried to piece together what he had missed.

Her laughter had been as infectious as always.

Her insatiable thirst for Caf-Pow hadn't changed.

Her delight at the cases being solved as obvious as ever.

Her music was the same, loud and obnoxious.

Her hair was it's usual sweet pony-tailed self.

Her general disregard for the federal dress-code was ...... no wait that wasn't true.

Gibbs looked down at the sleeping form coiled beside him, something was different.

Thinking back he couldn't remember the last time he'd seen one of Abby's infamously short skirts, for Abby she had been dressing kind of conservatively lately, gone were the short skirts, tight tops, three inch heels and studded collar that seemed to excite certain members of his team – not to mention himself on far more occasions than he cared to admit.

Looking back in his mind he realised he had noticed when this started, weeks ago, it was only now that he had context for the changes that it seemed particularly strange. The loose black jeans, trainers and dark tee-shirt covered by a black hooded top certainly seemed Goth as far as Gibbs was concerned, but they weren't "Abby" she took things to the extreme. Something was very wrong.

But now he needed her help, he needed to know what was wrong, until Abby told him just what was going on he had no way of protecting her.

"Abby" Gibbs whispered into her ear, gently hoping that he wouldn't startle her.

"Abs" slightly louder this time, the first whisper hadn't even caused her to stir.

He knew that he should leave this until morning, there was no doubting that Abby need to sleep, thinking about it, there was no doubting that he needed to sleep, or at least a good few hours working on his boat, but he had a feeling that wasn't going to be happening any time soon.

Slowly skimming his fingertips over Abby's forehead, shifting the loose hair from in front of her eyes just as she started to shift, he realised just how vulnerable she looked when she wasn't using all her strength to hide just how afraid she was.

Watching as Abby struggled to wake from the deep sleep she had fallen into Gibbs became aware of just how far he'd go to protect his special Lab Tech. Now he needed to know what he was up against.

"Abby... really need you to wake up now" Gibbs moved his hand down her back and began gently shaking her. "Come on Abs, my leg gone seriously dead, and if I don't get some coffee soon I'm going to get really grouchy"

This time he got a response, just not the one he was expecting.

In the split second between opening her eyes and registering where she was Abby's eyes caught his and he was surprised at the feeling he saw in them, hatred and fear showing deeply in her gaze. Quicker than he ever imagined some one could move, she was up on her feet and backing against the wall, trying to get as far away from him as possible. Her entire body tense, waiting for a reason to run.

Completely thrown by this change in her Gibbs slowly moved his way up the wall, trying to stand while his knee and his numb leg protested painfully.

"Abby." It barely a whisper as he said it but he knew she'd heard him.

As quickly as she had reacted to him as she woke up, her body relaxed and her eyes came up to meet his again, this time the feeling he saw there were entirely different, this time he saw absolute trust, and something else that he couldn't quite place, what ever it was seemed to calm her.

"I was dreaming, we were.... I thought he was going to.... not again." Abby stopped herself, obviously trying not to cry again, "Sorry Gibbs, guess I get a little jittery when I'm low on caffeine"

Trying to make a joke out of it didn't hide the fact Abby seemed disturbed by her own behaviour, the thin smile she was trying to give him barely went beyond her lips and no where else, and there was guilt now showing in her eyes, from what he wasn't sure, but he knew he had to find out.

"That's what I was trying to tell you, need coffee now, we can talk in the kitchen." reaching out his arm, he saw her glance at his hand, seeming almost afraid to take it. He wiggled his fingers at her, and smiled gently at her as she slowly linked her fingers between his and stepped beside him as he started to lead her down the hall

"Come on, I don't share my coffee machine with just anyone you know" Gibbs unwrapped his hand from hers, missing the contact as soon as it was broken and placed his arm around her shoulder, pulling her towards him as they walked. " Then we will talk, you're going to tell me what's going on here."

Abby stopped so suddenly Gibbs almost fell over.

"No Gibbs, not yet, I can't"

"God damn it Abby. Don't play games with me, I can't help you if you don't help me." Gibbs slammed the palm of his hand against the wall beside him, his frustration not aimed at Abby, but at who ever had caused her to become the person she was at the moment.

As soon as he felt the pain vibrating up his arm he regretted lashing out, Abby had backed away from him, fear back in her eyes, this time directed at him.

"Oh god, Abby" he stepped toward her, his voice calmer as he held out his arms to her, horrified at the way she kept cowering away "come here. I'm not mad at you. It's killing me seeing you like this and until you talk to me I can't help you."

Gibbs pulled her towards him scattering kisses on the top of her head, and held her tight until Abby had stopped shaking and started to relax into him.

"Better?" Gibbs glanced down at Abby to find her looking straight back at him, the trust he loved to see back in her eyes. "If it makes you feel any better I'm sorry."

At this Abby gave him a slight smile, one that was truly meant.

"Agent Gibbs, did you just apologise to me? Thought that was a sign of weakness" Gibbs grinned, trust Abby to remind him of that at a time like this. "Hey Gibbs, can we get that coffee now, think I'll need it before we talk"

Turning away from him Abby strode towards the kitchen, Gibbs followed close behind. Hoping with all his heart that this would be something he could fix.

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I'M TRYING TO GET THIS WRITTEN AS FAST AS I CAN, BUT KEEP HAVING TO RE-WRITE AS I TEND TO GET SIDE TRACKED. PLEASE LET ME KNOW IF YOU FEEL THIS IS STARTING TO RAMBLE AT ALL.

ALL REVIEWS ARE THOROUGHLY WELCOME. THANKS TO ALL THOSE WHO HAVE ALREADY REVIEWED.


	4. Chapter 4

woo-hoo!!!! :-) Another chapter so soon. all of the nice reviews i'm getting must be helping me along. hoping to get another chapter posted before the end of the weekend as well.

Again, please keep reviewing, and do tell me if i'm starting to ramble!!!

BTW - Taken a few liberties with the lay-out if gibbs' house, i have't got a clue what it looks like...... would like to though. ;-)

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Gibbs lent against the kitchen unit, watching Abby as she busied herself with his coffee machine, he was convinced that she had a photographic memory, to his knowledge she had only ever seen his kitchen once and even then had only watched as he had acquainted himself with the machine which itself had been a gift from her.

He remembered she had been amazed when he'd admitted that he still hand ground his own beans but used a cheap filter coffee maker to get his caffeine fix, she had shown up on his doorstep a few days after their conversation with a huge box containing the most confusing contraption he'd ever seen, though even he had to admit the thing was unbelievable, at a touch of the button it ground, roasted and produced the most astonishing coffee he'd ever tried.

Looking at her now, Gibbs found it hard to connect her to the sobbing mess of less than fifteen minutes previously, she seemed so calm pottering around collecting beans, cups and filling the machine with the filtered water from his fridge. It almost seemed as though Abby belonged in his house, she fit in as though she was the part of the furniture. It never failed to astound him how easily Abby adapted to her surroundings.

Turning to face him, Abby past Gibbs a perfectly steaming cup, glancing at the contents Gibbs smiled to himself, as every other time Abby had made him coffee she had added cream and most probably sugar as well, going against what he considered to be the perfect cup of coffee. But as she was staring expectantly at him Gibbs took a mouthful and grinned slightly at her, while desperately trying to swallow the coffee.

"Thanks, its good." Gibbs bent slightly and gently kissed the top of her head.

Satisfied he wasn't going to spit it out Abby turned and hoisted herself into a sitting position on the side, swinging he legs slightly as she nursed her cup, sipping gently at the hot liquid.

Several minutes past in silence as they both got the fix they needed from the cups in their hand. Abby occasionally slyly looking over the top of her cup at him, obviously thinking, possibly trying to find a way of telling him what was going on, and wondering how he was going to help.

Gibbs sensed rather than saw Abby looking at him, lost in his own thoughts he was trying to imagine any scenario that would cause the chattiest person he knew to be this quiet, not many came to mind and none of them were good. Never a patient person at the best of times he started to get restless, knowing that Abby was scared to tell him what was going on was hurting him more than he thought was possible, he truly believed that she would have come to him if she had any problems, they'd had conversations in the past where he'd made her promise to do just that. The fact that she hadn't put one thought in his head that he never thought he'd have about Abby.

"Don't you trust me?" as soon as Abby's head shot up, the look of pure astonishment on her face told Gibbs everything he needed to know.

"You know I do Gibbs, how could you ask me that?"

Abby sounded so hurt by his question that he put down the now cold coffee he was still hold and went to her side, placing both his arms around her waist he lifted her off the side and held her, holding her close enough to feel her heartbeat.

"Shush, it okay. I know you do. I know" Gibbs continued to hold her as he moved his hand rhythmically up and down her back.

Pulling away Abby looked up at him, all the trust she had for him now showing in her eyes.

"Guess its now or never." She paused, looking round the kitchen "You got some stools in here or is there somewhere else we can sit. This may take a while."

Gibbs turned and looked around his own kitchen, it took him a few seconds to remember where the stools he'd had were, he'd used them for kindling burning the last boat he'd built, after he'd attacked it with an axe, and carried it bit by bit to the garden.

"Come on, through here." he linked his fingers through Abby's trying to ignore the warm rush that started in his chest as he held her hand tight and led her through to where his couch sat.

As they entered the room Gibbs moved to the side intending to flick the switch and bring some light into the room, he was surprised by the hand on his arm that stopped him.

"Don't" Abby's voice came through the darkness. "Please, leave it off."

The almost pleading tone of her voice cut through him as he dropped his arm and navigated them towards the couch.

As soon as he's relaxed into the cushions he felt the weight of another body push against the springs of the chair and then tensed as he felt Abby curl up against him, lifting his hand around her shoulder so her head could lay between his arm and his chest, her knees bought right up so they rested on his lap, one of her hands toying with the frayed edges around a hole in the knee of her jeans and the other grasped tightly to the buttons of his polo shirt.

Relaxing against her as he realised she was about as comfortable as she was going to get Gibbs slowly stroked his fingers up and down Abby's arm, feeling her shiver slightly at the contact.

"Are you ready now?"

Gibbs really didn't want to rush her, right now all he wanted to do was comfort her, what ever was bothering Abby could wait he'd decided. He'd be quite content to stay as they were for the rest of the night.

"Hmm, yeah I think so."

The hesitation in her voice made Gibbs raise his hand and lift her head so she was looking straight in to his eyes.

"Look Abs, we don't have to do this right now, why don't you get some sleep. It can wait."

"No Gibbs, its not that, I need....no I want to tell you. Its just......" Her eyes searched his, looking for something he couldn't figure out. "Just don't want you to hate me."

The last words were spoken at a whisper, and though Gibbs heard them clearly they didn't make any sense to him.

"Hate you?" Gibbs knew that the world would explode before that ever happened "Abby I could never..... no matter what it is I will always be here for you. I'll keep you safe. Nothing and I mean nothing will ever change that. Do you understand that?"

The last few words were spoken more forcefully than he meant to but the small nod he felt under his arm told him she'd understood. He lifted her head once again and place a soft kiss on the end of her nose. He smiled gently at her, encouraging her to open up to him.

"I didn't keep this from you on purpose, I need you to know that." she stared at him until he nodded his acceptance of her hidden apology. "I thought it was over a long time ago. But now I know its not. I need your help Gibbs, I need you to protect me."

Gathering her closer to him Gibbs whispered into her hair.

"I'll protect you Abby, but only when you tell me how."

Feeling tears starting to dampen his shirt he let her go, tucked her head beneath his chin and rocked her gently until she was able to continue.


	5. Chapter 5

See lots of nice reviews and i get another chaper done already!!! so keep telling me what you think.

let me know if you think the rating is okay on this.

everything in _italics_ is in the past - flash backs if you like.

HAPPY SMILEY HUGS TO YOU ALL. xxxxxx

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Gibbs felt his blood run cold as Abby uttered four words that he'd never wanted to hear from any person he cared about.

"I was raped Gibbs"

Gibbs felt Abby react as his body tensed, trying to keep in the immediate anger that was coursing through his system at the thought of someone hurting the woman curled in his arms, her hand came up and laid on his chest, feeling his heartbeat racing as she carried on talking.

"No Gibbs, wait.... I'm not telling this right, it was a long time ago." She looked up at him trying to gage his reaction. "I need to start at the beginning."

"Do you remember the first time you took me out for my birthday?" Abby's question took Gibbs totally by surprise.

Trying to wrap his mind around the bombshell that Abby had just dropped on him, and the sudden change in direction of the conversation, Gibbs failed to notice Abby pulling away from him, staring intently at him, silently wishing him to say something.

"Gibbs? Please." Abby's pleading forced his attention back towards her.

"Why Abs?, why am I just finding out about this now?" There were so many other questions running through his mind, but those were the only ones he could say without letting out all the emotions he was now feeling.

"I'll get to that Gibbs" Abby laid her head back down, keeping her hand on his chest, absent-mindedly drawing circles with her fingers. "You just need to trust me like I trust you. Do you remember? It's important."

"Course I do Abby."

Thinking back to their first 'date' made Gibbs grin despite the situation that had caused him to recall it.

* * *

_Abby had only been working for NCIS a little over a year, they'd certainly had their moments, not always seeing eye to eye on a lot of things, but between them they'd always got the job done, and when they did have some down time with no cases to deal with, he'd been pleasantly surprised to find they got on fairly well, enjoying the odd beer with Ducky, or drinking coffee in the bullpen. _

_Abby had been on long vacation, skiing, when she returned she had several deep bruises, cuts and abrasions and a rather fetching black cast surrounding her right wrist. All due to a nasty fall on the slopes her first time snow-boarding. Which as she had described it sounded like she'd got caught in an avalanche. _

_Watching her struggle, finding it hard to do all the intricate bits she needed to as part of her daily work had mildly amused Gibbs for a couple of days, the curses coming out of her mouth at times amazed him and the frustrated banging and throwing of innocent objects had made him laugh, but when he had turned up in her lab just as she was attempting to put her coat on, finding her close to tears as she got the cast caught in the buckles and loops on the sleeves, he had taken pity on her. _

_After helping her with the coat he had asked how she was getting home, he knew she'd been taking the bus to work as she had found her hearse to heavy to manage with the cast on. After finding out she was going to walk the 5km back to her house he'd been horrified, it was dark, cold and she wasn't even going to take the safe route, intending instead to take a shortcut through the roughest part of the city. After a lot of arguing he'd managed to get her to agree to a lift home, at some point during the ride she'd admitted to it being her birthday the next day. _

_Ever the gentleman Gibbs had decided Abby couldn't spend the night before her birthday on her own with a broken wrist, so had duly turned the car around, much to the protests of his young lab assistant, and headed towards his own house, where he'd got changed before taking her to the restaurant of her choice, a decision he thought he'd regret. To his amazement her taste in food ran along the same lines as his and they'd ended up in a nice little Italian not far from the Navy yard._

_And to this day they still had the same routine, every year on the eve of her birthday, they ended up in that Italian restaurant, whether they'd agreed about it or not._

* * *

"Hey Gibbs, you still with me? Don't go zoning out on me now." Abby's fingers tapping the same rhythm as his heartbeat on his chest cut through his thoughts, looking at her now he couldn't believe so many years had gone by.

"Yeah Abs I'm here. So whats important about that first time?"

"Hell, this is why I don't want you to hate me Gibbs, you have to understand I kept it from you for a reason,"

Gibbs nodded, the Abby he knew now wouldn't keep something like this from him, but back then they barely knew each other, it was barely a friendship at that point.

"I know Abby, I know. Believe me, I'm not going to hate you, just not going to happen. All you have to do is tell me."

Gibbs laid his head back against the couch, rubbing his fingers over his eyes as he waited to absorbed what she was going to say to him.

"I never went skiing that year Gibbs."

Gibbs shot up, searching for Abby's face in the darkened room, trying to tell if she was, for some inexplicable reason, lying to him.

"What do you mean you never went skiing." Gibbs fought to keep his voice low and his emotions under control.

"Just what I said." her voice was back to a whisper. "Don't be angry Gibbs, please don't be angry, you said you understood."

Leaning back, taking Abby back into his arms Gibbs relaxed as much as his mind would let him, resuming the stroking of her hair he gently kissed the top of her head.

"Hey, hey its okay I'm not angry. I'm surprised, confused, maybe even a little disappointed that you never told me, but I'm not angry and I don't hate you."

Abby lent into his body, wrapping her arms around him and returning the hug he was giving her.

"So." Gibbs started slowly, not too sure how to proceed. "If you didn't go skiing, where did the broken wrist and the bruises come..........."

Gibbs never finished the sentence as it dawned in him just what had happened to Abby on her vacation. Feeling her shift in his arms he realise that Abby was crying again, sobbing against his shirt as she let out so many years of held in emotion. Holding her as close as he could Gibbs started to rock her slowly as he tried to rid his mind of the images that where flying through his head, each one as atrocious and alarming as the next.

Sensing that Abby wanted to say something he released his grip on her slightly, allowing her to move her head back and look him in the eyes.

"You want to know who, don't you?" The tone of her voice was of resignation, she had to have known that as soon as she told him what she'd been hiding that would be his first question.

All Gibbs could do was nod, he didn't trust himself to speak.

The several minutes of silence that followed were the longest Gibbs had ever known, what ever Abby had gone through back then, she'd done it alone. He hadn't been there to protect her when she needed him the most and that hurt him more deeply than anything else he could have done.

"I'm sorry Abs, I'm so sorry." Gibbs buried his face in her hair, bringing her close enough to feel her breath on his neck. "I should have known, I should have protected you."

Sensing how much distress he was in Abby reached up and cupped his face, bringing it down to eye level with hers .

"Its not your fault, its no-ones fault, not even mine." her voice was wavering with emotion but firm enough to get his attention.

Using her fingertips to wipe away the tears that where threatening to form in his eyes she gave him a loose smile.

"Hey, this is my time to get teary not yours. You don't want me to think you've gone soft do you Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs?" Gibbs managed a weak smile in return for her light teasing.

Stretching out his legs, lifting them on to the coffee table in front of them, he motioned for Abby to lie down. There was plenty of room on the couch for her to lie flat with her head on his lap. It allowed him to continue stroking her hair while she talked, and it meant she wasn't able to see the pain in his eyes from the images still flashing through his mind.

"So who was he Abs" There was no commanding tone in his voice and if Gibbs didn't know himself better he would almost say he was pleading.

"Issac Jacobs." Yet another whisper, but still totally clear to Gibbs.

Just one thing bothered him, shifting to sit up straighter, he knew he recognized that name from somewhere.

"Abs why is that name so familiar?" Gibbs mind switched from the images of Abby being beaten, trying to place a face to the name that she had just given him.

The muffled reply came from his tee-shirt where Abby had buried her head as soon as he'd asked. Moving so that he could get a better look at her face he asked again.

"His fingerprints were found at homicide about six weeks ago Gibbs, the Daniels case? He was one of several suspect, you interviewed him yourself."

Abby's face fled back into his shirt as he processed what she said.

Pulling her back out of his shirt he asked another question.

"Abs, other than what he did to you, How well do you know this Jacobs?"

"When I started NCIS he was my boyfriend Gibbs, I know him better than any of the files we have on him." The agitation showed more than any other emotion in her voice.

"Okay Abs, okay. You need to sleep now, we can deal with this in the morning." he could feel her starting to protest beneath his hands. "I know there's more you want to say, but it can wait. Neither of us are any good half dead from exhaustion."

"Promise you won't leave me, stay here with me."

"Won't be going anywhere Abby, be right here when you wake up, I promise."

Grabbing at a blanket that he had over the back of the couch, Gibbs covered his worn out Goth and tuck it around her, laying his head back trying to slow down the information going through his head he found himself failing miserably. Consigning himself to still being awake come morning Gibbs gently started humming to Abby as she quickly past into a deep sleep, her hand grasped at the bottom of his shirt, determined that he wasn't going anywhere.

Bringing up his arm to just in front his face Gibbs squinted at his watch and was surprised by the time, it was almost 5am. With no new cases his team deserved the rare weekend off he had promised them, looking down at Abby now, he wasn't sure they were going to get it.


	6. Chapter 6

Yet another chapter-i tell you for a one-shot this seems to being getting a bit out of hand!!!- this one is a bit longer than the others, but hopefully will explain some bits

There are referenced to violent assault in this chapter, i don't think its too graphic, a bit 'blink and you'll miss it'

thank you for the great reviews, keep them coming.

* * *

Before he even opened his eyes, Gibbs instinctively knew that he was alone, there was no weight on his lap where Abby's head had been and the blanket that he had covered her with was now wrapped around him, this coupled with the fact that he could smell fresh coffee emanating from his kitchen told him that Abby was already awake, and probably ready to tell the rest of her story.

Lifting himself off the couch he followed the smell that had obviously woken him, looking at his watch as he walked through the door. 6.45am, considering he had watched Abby sleeping for almost an hour and so had got less than an hour's sleep he felt surprisingly okay. Thinking about Abby's confession less than two hours earlier played heavily on his mind, deciding what to do next was going to be hard. Looking up and finding Abby with her back to him, busily searching his cupboards for something he was sure he didn't have he decided to wait until she had told him the rest of what was going on, then he would determine if he wanted or needed the rest of his team in on this.

"What you looking for Abs?"

Abby froze at the sound of his voice then almost instantly relaxed as she realised who it was. Spinning around to look at him Gibbs was dismayed at how tired she looked in the slight morning light that was starting to come through the window. Even so she grinned at him as she grabbed a cup off the side and held it out to him.

"Looks like you need this Gibbs." Not put off by the mock glare he tried to give her Abby turned back to the cupboards and continued her search.

"Pancakes Gibbs, thought I'd do breakfast."

"Sorry, no pancakes Abs, in case you haven't noticed I tend to eat at the office."

Gibbs put down his coffee and moved around the kitchen, closing the door and drawers that Abby had left open in her wake.

"Oh, but Gibbs what do you do at the weekend? You got to eat."

She was avoiding the conversation that she knew had to be finished. He knew she was avoiding it and she knew that he knew.

"Take-out Abby, thats what they're for." Reaching out to stop her opening the last drawer he turned her to look at him.

"Tell you what, finish telling me about Jacobs, and what ever happened and I'll take you out for breakfast, okay?"

Slumping her shoulders in defeat Abby nodded, she knew there was no way she'd win against Gibbs in a battle of wills. Seizing her coffee cup she hauled herself on to the work top whilst Gibbs lent against the door frame.

"Where do you want me to start?" Abby was more interested in staring at her swinging feet than meeting his eyes, but Gibbs felt that was understandable and chose to ignore it.

"Wherever you want Abs, its your story." Gibbs knew better than to push her, sometimes it was better to let Abby ramble, it was going about thing the long way, but by the end it was usually much clearer than trying to force something out of her.

Sipping her coffee Abby was obviously trying to decide which option to take, the sort or the long version.

"Wherever you want Abby, but tell me everything." Gibbs put as much emphasis on the last four words as he could without sounding too commanding, she had to tell him in her own way.

"Okay.....We went to a club, me and Issac, the music was amazing..... you probably, no definitely would have hated it Gibbs. Things had been off between us for a while, but we'd been trying, or at least I had to keep it going. Issac didn't seem all that into the relationship by that point, but I really liked him Gibbs I really did." Abby glanced up briefly at him and Gibbs could tell she meant it.

He nodded slowly, and encouragement to keep going.

"This club there were loads of people we knew and at some point we got split up, I went off to talk with a friend, turned around and he'd vanished, you know how that happens on a club, right?, well no you probably don't, but it does and then you spend ages looking for the other person only to find them ten feet from where you left them. Let me tell you Gibbs, that is not a fun way to spend a night."

Abby paused and hopped down from the counter, moving along to refill her cup, looking back over her shoulder, using her eyes to ask if he needed more. Gibbs shook his head, he was going to need to pace himself on the caffeine. With her back still towards him Abby continued.

"When I finally found him he was wrapped around some blond....thing.... in the least platonic way you can imagine. We argued, right there in the club, not easy to do I'll have you know Gibbs what with the music and everything. I told him it was over, thought he was going to lose it there and then, his face was pure hatred Gibbs, it scared me. But suddenly it all stopped, he handed me the key to my place from his keyring and walked away. In a strange sort of way that made me sad Gibbs, I thought he didn't care enough to fight for me."

Instinctively Gibbs went to her, able to sense that she was crying even though she made no sounds. Holding her close and kissing the top of her head seemed to sooth her enough for her to continue.

"I was a wreck after that so I decided to go home, sleep it off, I knew I was in early the next day and had all the different tests that I knew had to be done going through my head, I wasn't paying any attention as to what was going on around me. I got out of the cab I'd taken back to my place and was watching it turn the corner at the end of the street when I saw Issac walking towards me. Thing is Gibbs, I wasn't worried. I just thought he needed something from the apartment, he only had a few bit there, I thought he'd come to collect them, get it over and done with.

Gibbs knew without Abby saying that wasn't how it had turned out, but he needed her to tell him.

"What happened next Abs?" His voice was low, and he continued to hold her as she proceeded with the story.

"He was smiling when he reached me and I never saw his hand move from his side, but suddenly it was pulling at my hair. He dragged me around the side of the building, trying to slam his fists into me while he was yelling, I can't remember most of what he called me, my hearing went slightly after around the fifth time he punched my head. I remember him yelling about embarrassing him in the club, that I didn't deserve him and that he'd make sure I never did it to anyone again."

Gibbs pulled Abby closer, horrified that she had lived with this for so long, hiding it away underneath her exuberant personality.

"Go on Abs, I need to hear all of it."

"I tried to get away, I kick, I punched back but he was bigger and stronger by far too much for it to be any good. I even bit him once, took a chunk out of his forearm, thats when he broke my wrist, he held it over two bricks that were lying about and stamped on it hard enough to shatter the bone in five places. He picked me up and threw me against every wall he could find until I was barely conscious and then he knelt on me while he cut off my clothes with a knife he'd had strapped to his belt and he held me down while he........"

This was as far as she got before collapsing on to the kitchen floor, taking Gibbs with her trying desperately to slow her descent.

"Shush, its okay its, over, you've finished, its okay, its over......" Gibbs kept repeating the same words over and over, rocking Abby in his arms as the memories flooded her mind.

After what seemed like an eternity the sobbing died down, and the shaking that had affected Abby's entire body seemed to calm. As she pulled away from him Gibbs noted that through the tear streaked face her eyes seemed brighter than they had in weeks, almost like someone had reached in a flicked the light switch.

"Hey, how you doing?" Gibbs knew it was probably one of the most stupid things he could have said, but right now he didn't care.

"I'm..... " Abby gave the question some serious thought, whether to humor him or if she really wasn't sure Gibbs wasn't certain. "Okay, yeah I'm okay"

The second time she said it she actually sounded okay, and extracted herself from his hug and proceeded to make fresh coffee, picking up his cup on the way to the machine.

Gibbs stayed where he was, marveling at Abby's ability to shrug off negative emotions or at least suppress them when she needed to be strong.

"Why now Abby?"

He knew that she knew that he wasn't asking why she never told him about the rape, but why she never mentioned that she knew him when he became a suspect in a murder investigation, and why six weeks after the case had been solved was she still scared.

Abby kept her back to him, but answered without hesitation.

"Issac went to jail for what he did to me, he stayed there until about... well you read the file we had on him, I got a letter about eight months ago from an old friend who told me he'd seen Issac about and he'd been asking after me, that was the only thing I've heard about him since the day I was in court to see him sentenced, until his prints came up at the crime scene, what was I supposed to do Gibbs? Bring you the results and say 'I've got three suspects for you take your pick, but by the way this one here's not long out of prison cause he raped me god knows how many years ago' I know he wasn't the guy who did it, but if I'd told you then would you have found a way to make it seem like he was? should I have done that? I was scared Gibbs I didn't know what to do"

Abby's voice had attracted an angry tone, Gibbs stood and walked towards her, knowing that she was holding back so much more anger than she was showing, he knew she needed an opportunity to release that emotion.

"Its okay Abs, its okay."

Before he'd reached her he'd seen her hands ball up and so was expecting it when her fists started pounding against his chest, desperately trying to rid her self of the pent up anger coursing through her.

"No its not I should have told you, I-should-have-told-you." Each of the last five words was punctuated by a blow to his chest.

Slowly unballing her fists Abby smoothed the front of Gibbs shirt and glanced up at him, seeing the small smile in his lips she lent her forehead against his chest, slowing her breathing until she felt able to continue.

"About four weeks ago flowers started arriving at the Navy yard. No name, no note, nothing, to begin with I thought it was Tony mucking about or maybe Tim. But then I started getting them at home, at first they were couriered, same thing though, no note. Then about ten days ago there were some waiting for me on the steps to my apartment, no note but also they'd been hand delivered. A week ago I got home and someone had broken in, there were more flowers in the apartment, only this time there was a note."

Gibbs felt that he had a pretty good idea where this was going but let Abby continue while she felt happy enough to do so.

"All it said was 'I'm sorry, never meant to hurt you, maybe we can try again' not signed but I recognized the handwriting. I tell you Gibbs I was out of there like a shot. Literally gave myself enough time to grab a few things and I ran. Been staying in the Navy yard ever since. Even managed to con Tony into getting stuff from my place when I've needed it."

Abby hung her head, exhausted from finally giving up the secrets she'd held in for so long. Gibbs stood beside her with his back against come cabinets. Absorbing all of the information she'd just supplied him. He realised that the decision was already made for him, if any one of his team found out about this and knew he had done nothing they would never forgive him, however if he tried to do something without them they still wouldn't forgive him.

Taking the coffee cup Abby held out to him he looped his arm over her shoulder and started walking her towards the door.

"Go sit in the den for a bit Abs, I'm going to shower, change and then we'll go for breakfast like I promised." He chose to ignore the confused questioning look on her face as he gently shoved her into the next open door he came to.

He waited until he knew she was engrossed in the television then he back away in to the kitchen where is mobile was charging on the side. He picked it up and flipped it between his fingers for a while trying to figure out the best way of explaining to his team that he needed them but not for a case. He knew there was something that each of his three field agents could do for him that would mean more than any of the cases they solved, he just had to convince them that this was the best way.

He'd decided to tell them the truth, it was the least they deserved, at the first sign of protest at being disturbed early on a Saturday morning Gibbs had whispered seven simple words down the line and instructed them on what he needed.

All three of his agents were now on their way to his house each with their own special errand to run.

The seven simple words he had used?

**_"Abby's in trouble, she needs your help."_**

* * *

**_A/N- I KNOW SOME OF YOU DON'T LIKE ISSAC - I'M NOT KEEN ON HIM AND HE'S MY CHARACTER- BUT ANY IDEAS ON HOW'D YOU LIKE GIBBS AND THE TEAM TO DEAL WITH HIM? ANY SUGGESTIONS APPRECIATED, _**


	7. Chapter 7

Okay, heres another chapter. Hope you like. personally i think it ends a bit too abruptly, but hey let me know what you thimk.

Must apologise to everyone for taking so long to update but my sister decided to have her baby last week and the little muchkin is so cute i haven't been able to concentrate on my writing as much as i'd like. :-)

Thank you for all the reviews, they've been very helpful. keep them coming please.

* * *

Hanging up the phone Gibbs made his way back to the den, there he found Abby dozing on the sofa, his television on but the sound right down, as he stepped towards her Gibbs grabbed a jacket that was hanging off the door, using it to cover the curled figure before slipping back out the door, after detouring back through his kitchen to unlock the back door in anticipation of his visitors, he took the stairs two at a time determined to get his shower before there was work to do.

Stepping out of the shower and wiping the steam off the mirror Gibbs was amazed to see how tired he looked, he knew that the few minutes sleep he'd managed through the night probably hadn't helped, but he'd managed on less for a lot longer and never looked this bad.

Just as he finished tucking in his shirt Gibbs heard the back door open, squealing as metal grated against metal, glad that he had never got around to dealing with the damaged hinge Gibbs tried to remember if it was his first or second wife that had thrown the cast iron pot at him that had caused the damage when he'd ducked. Just as he was deciding it was the first, he suddenly remembered that Abby was asleep, and the state she was in certainly didn't need to be woken to the sound of someone entering his house.

Racing back down the stairs Gibbs skidded on the wooden floor in the hallway as he tried to stop his visitors disturbing Abby's sleep, she needed it more than she realised.

Grinding to a halt at his kitchen door Gibbs was greeted by the sight of his three field agents standing just inside the door, looking unsure of whether or not to proceed.

Ziva was holding a backpack that Gibbs presumed help the things that he had asked her to bring.

McGee was stood with his hand halfway to his gun, clutching a piece of paper that Gibbs didn't need to ask about to know what it was.

Tony was lent against the worktop, searching through the paper bag that he'd bought with him, Tony had done what Tony did best, he'd brought breakfast.

All of them visibly relaxed as they saw him enter. Their concern for Abby showing clearly on their faces as they turned and looked at him, every question they had transparent in their eyes.

"Hey boss." Tony already had a mouthful of something he'd fished out of the bag, but as a show of his worry about the situation, the trade mark grin was gone, replaced instead with a look of determination.

"Where is she?" The question came from McGee, his voice wavering betraying his emotions.

Gibbs nodded behind him, stayed where he was, not intending for them to wake Abby just yet.

"She's sleeping Tim." They all noted the use of McGee's first name, never a good sign. "Leave her for a minute."

Walking towards his team Gibbs smiled gently at each of them. Indicating the coffee machine he picked up four cups as each of them nodded. Taking the paper wrapped bagel that Tony offered as he walked past Gibbs started to eat quickly, not realising just how hungry he was. Every one of them stood in silence, waiting for some one else to start the conversation they knew was to come.

Before the machine had even finished producing the last cup of coffee Gibbs heard movement coming from outside the kitchen, signaling to the three team members to be quiet he made his way back towards where Abby had been sleeping. Surprised to find her in the hallway, wearing his jacket that he had draped over her, a slight smile on her tired face.

"Sorry, fell asleep." Rubbing at her eyes as she spoke and looking down at the jacket she was now wearing. "I was cold, you don't mind do you?"

"Course I don't mind Abs, I'll get you a sweater in a bit, be more comfortable." Gibbs was please with the warm glow that started in his chest when Abby graced him with a smile.

She stepped towards him, not asking for a hug but receiving one anyway, along with a soft kiss against her forehead.

"You feeling better now?" Gibbs pulled away slightly, searching Abby's face.

"Yeah, a bit... can I smell coffee?" Abby's question pulled his thoughts back to the three people in his kitchen, the three people she didn't know where there.

"Yes, I'll get you some, but first there's something I need to tell you....."

The rest of the sentence was lost among a huge crash that sounded like one of his mugs hitting a wall, at least thats what they had sounded like when his second wife had thrown them, and a loud cry.

"TONY...." Ziva sounded about ready to castrate Tony for whatever he'd said or done.

"Shush" McGee was obviously trying to play peacemaker, his voice low but still carrying out into the hall. "Gibbs said be quiet, and he'd probably kill you if he ever saw you do that."

At the first sound Abby flew back into his arms, burying her head deep in his jacket, her sense taking their time to realise that the shout came from one of the team, one of her friends. She pulled back slowly, hands still grasped against her shirt, horror showing on her face as the realisation of what he had done dawned on her.

Shaking her head Abby slowly backed away until she was up against the wall.

"No Gibbs, please tell me you didn't...... why?"

It took Gibbs a few seconds to realise that there were actually two questions to be answered.

"Sorry Abs, really I am.... I needed them. I need them to help you and to do that I had to tell them.

Gibbs stepped forward and lent against the wall. Waiting for Abby to say something, anything. He knew when he'd been calling the team that he would have to explain to Abby why. He hadn't realised that it would hurt him so much to see her so horrified at the idea of her friends trying to help her.

Within seconds Abby's expression changed, a smile spread across her face and she lent her head against his upper arm for a brief second.

"It okay Gibbs, I know why you did it."

Turning towards the kitchen Abby held out her hand for Gibbs to hold as she prepared to enter the room holding her friends. As he took it he squeezed gently for the reassurance he knew she'd want even if she wouldn't asked for it. Gibbs stepped beside her looking for any sign that she was struggling but only saw a slight hitch in her breathing as she took a deep breath and started walking forward.

"Hey guys. You better not have drunk my coffee."

All of her three team mates turned from the counter they were stood at and stared at her. Taking in her appearance from the tired, drawn look on her face to the way she clung vulnerably to Gibbs' hand, as well as the crumpled slept in clothes and the over sized jacket slung carelessly over her shoulders.

As usual Tony was the first to recover enough to say something. Carefully lifting a large polystyrene container out of the bag on the counter and walking towards Abby holding it out almost as a peace offering.

"Hey Abby, coffee's cold, going to have to make some more. Bought you breakfast though."

As though nothing was wrong Abby happily accepted the box and lifted the lid, grinning widely when she saw that there was a large stack of pancakes, her grin became even wider when she realised that the pancakes had come from her favorite place, knowing that Tony had probably flashed his badge and threatened the staff as they didn't normally do take-out. Turning to Gibbs she smiled gently, letting him know he was forgiven for not taking her out for breakfast after all. Leaving the comfort of Gibbs' side she lifted herself onto the counter and start to eat hungrily.

"Better put on more coffee McGee."

Tim jumped slightly at the sound of his boss's voice, engrossed in his own world staring angrily at the piece of paper in his hand. Slowly he made his way to the machine, glancing at Abby out of the corner of his eye. His concern clearly shown on his face.

"Sure boss, on it."

After watching McGee for a few seconds to make sure he knew what he was doing Gibbs managed to catch Tony's eyes and indicated for him to step out into the hallway. Seeing him stop and gently rub his hand on Abby's knee as he walked past and he knew that he had done the right thing in calling them.

"What's do you need Boss?"

Given the chance Tony could probably guess what the was needed but Gibbs was in no mood to play those sorts of guessing games with him now.

"Did McGee get what I wanted?

"Yeah, copy of the guy's photo ID, last known address, credit details, and believe me boss there were lots of them considering, oh and his phone providers given us the GPS, he can run but he can't hide, and Probie even pulled up the file from that case his finger prints were found at."

Tony reached inside his jacket and pulled out a folder handing it over to Gibbs as though it were the holy grail.

"Turned out he'd been in the room where the murder took place the morning before it happened, but he had an alibi for the actual murder so we quizzed him and turned him loose, he didn't know anything about it anyway."

Gibbs opened the folder, flicking through the pages until he got to the one he wanted. Issac Jacobs stared back at him from the page, as soon as he saw the picture Gibbs remembered the interview he'd done, Jacobs' attitude had been less than forthcoming, he grunted his way through the interview like an insolent child never once having the decency to look Gibbs in the face when questions were asked. They'd known he'd been in prison for rape, it was on the sheet when they'd run the fingerprints, but that hadn't mattered, they'd been running a murder case, not a rape case, it hadn't seemed important at the time. If they'd known who he'd raped Jacobs would never have left that interview room.

Slamming the file shut Gibbs threw the folder hard against the wall, showing the anger and frustration at having had the SOB in his grasp and letting him go.

Gritting his teeth Gibbs kicked out at the door frame waiting for the pain to shoot up his leg as his foot made contact with the solid wood. Slowly letting out the breath he was holding he turned towards his senior field agent.

"Get Ducky over here now."

It wasn't a question or a request, more of a command, even so although normally it would have been done without question Tony felt the need the query it.

"Why boss? She's okay isn't she, I mean Abby, she's not hurt?"

Looking at the agent in front of him, seeing the anxious expression on his face Gibbs felt his anger soften. Reaching up he place his hand on Tony's shoulder.

"No Abby's okay, nothing a little rest won't help, she'll be fine. But I need someone here with her, someone I can trust."

Seeing the flash of hurt skip through Tony's eyes Gibbs realised how that had sounded and tried to explain himself better.

"I need some else I can trust with her, I need you with me. You, Ziva and Tim. We're going to make sure this bastard never hurts Abby again, that he never hurts anyone ever again, okay? Are you with me on this Tony?"

Gibbs waited letting the full meaning of what he had said sink in. he could do this without his team, it would take longer and be more difficult but it was possible yet he knew that given the choice the whole team would not miss this opportunity.

"Course boss. What ever it takes, wouldn't be here now if we weren't with you on this, when have we ever let you down."

"Okay, good. Call Ducky, get ready to go when he gets here."

Gibbs turned towards the kitchen, knowing Tony was already speed dialing his friend. Stepping back through the door he wasn't surprised to find that Ziva had taken up guard duty by the back door, her hand resting on her hip just above her gun and Abby had McGee deep in serious conversation, obviously telling him to stop being so worried and that she was okay.

Now all they had to do was wait, hopefully it wouldn't be long before this was all over and Abby could lay her demons to rest for good.

Reaching out for what looked like a fresh cup of coffee Gibbs glanced over his shoulder at Tony and then around the kitchen at the rest of his team, he smiled, Tony was right, his team had neve let him down, and they never would, especially when it was one of their own they were helping.


	8. Chapter 8

Okay, heres another chapter. i'm aiming for another 1 possibly 2 chapters- depending on how much stuff i want to put the bad guy through- let me know what you think :-)

so anyway. please keep reviewing its good to know that people are reading this.

**A/N i seem to find Ziva hard to write verbally, so if she seems a little oc please forgive me!!!**

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Gibbs watched as Tony re-entered the room, nodding slightly as he past. Walking straight up to Abby, Tony ignored the fact that McGee was in mid conversation, pulled Abby off the counter and into a deep hug. A lump formed in Gibbs' throat as he saw fully for the first time how much Abby meant to his team, Ziva left the back door to continue when Tony pulled away and finally McGee held her tightly enough to stop her breathing when Gibbs motioned for Ziva to join him.

Walking over to him Ziva fished three small pieces of card out of her pocket, holding them out to Gibbs as she arrived by his side. Taking them Gibbs realised they were greeting messages from flower bouquets.

"Where did you get them?"

Flipping them over in his fingers he could barely make out the writing.

"Her apartment, there were more,but I didn't think that she needed to see them."

Gibbs nodded, slowly moving the card away from him at arms length until the words came into focus.

_'Don't think you can hide from me little one, I'll find you'_

Each said the same and Gibbs felt a churning in his stomach as he read them.

"How many?"

It was a question he really didn't want to ask.

"Sixteen in total, and not all of them were fresh, he's been in there a lot. I threw them all in the trash,"

"Thank you Ziva."

Gibbs walked over to the bin and dumped the cards, glancing at his watch he was surprised to find that only ten minutes had past since he'd asked Tony to call Ducky, not in a particularly patient mood he looked around for something to try and take him mind off what was going around him. Not finding anything he looked again at his team, Ziva had resumed her place by the door, Tony and McGee were having a heated exchange of some sort, probably over a film, and Abby was staring at the wall, deep in her own thoughts which Gibbs decided probably wasn't the best thing for her to be doing.

Walking over to he he gently touched her arm, hating the way she jumped before she realise who he was.

"Hey, you okay?"

Gibbs smiled at her, pleased that she responded by placing her head on his chest and wrapping her arms around him to find comfort. Returning the gesture he kissed the top of her head.

"What are you going to do to him Gibbs?"

Her voice was back to a whisper, Gibbs didn't want to believe it was because she was still scared, more likely she wasn't sure she wanted to hear his response.

"Tell him to back off Abs, get him to leave you alone"

"Will you hurt him?"

The distress in her voice was clear, she was torn between not wanting to know and wanting the person who'd hurt her to suffer. The only thing Gibbs felt he could do was be honest with her. Gently stroking her hair he thought about how best to answer.

"I don't know Abby, I can't promise that I won't"

Abby looked up at him, tears in her eyes that he wished he could magic away.

"Thank you Gibbs."

Stretching up on tip toes she surprised him by placing a soft kiss on his cheek. Falling back on to her feet she looked down at her clothes.

"I look a mess, mind if I go shower? Oh and could I borrow something to wear?

Gibbs grinned at her.

"Sure course you can go shower, as for something to wear, hope you don't mind I got Ziva to stop by your place and pick you something up, something a little more 'Abby'"

Looking over his shoulder he caught Ziva's eyes and let her know that he needed what he had asked her to bring.

Slowly Ziva walked over to Abby, looking a little sheepish, carrying the rucksack she had bought with her.

"You might like to get some better locks on your door Abby. Hope what I chose is suitable."

Abby took the bag that was offered to her, unzipping it slowly, obviously a little unsure of what she would find inside it. Looking down she glanced inside a smile spreading over her face as she saw a collection of clothes pulled from her wardrobe.

"Thank you Ziva, thank you."

Abby dropped the bag on the floor and pulled Ziva into an energetic hug, the surprised look on Ziva's face made Gibbs laugh out loud, making Tony and McGee to look up from their discussion. Seeing what was going on smiles spread over their faces, making Gibbs laugh even more. This was how his team should be, how they would be when this was all over.

"Go shower Abby. I'll make fresh coffee."

Gibbs watched Abby disentangle herself from Ziva, then saw the uncertain look cross her face, Gibbs understood that look without any need to ask questions.

"Ziva, go with her, it'll be okay Abby, go."

Abby visibly relaxed, flicking a quick smile at Gibbs before turning out of the kitchen, Ziva slowly shaking her head and following close behind. Walking over to Tony and McGee who were stood, quiet, thoughtful at what was ahead of them.

"Show me Tim."

McGee held out the pieces of paper that her had been staring at, folding and unfolding since he had arrived, Gibbs accepting them, slowly taking in the information the was printed on them, he didn't want to know how they had been obtained, wasn't sure that he'd understand it anyway, besides he knew that McGee wouldn't tell him anyway.

Gibbs knew now why McGee had been staring at the paper so hard and for so long, printed in stark detail were the photo's of Abby's injuries from all those years ago. Black-purple fingertip bruises covered her arms and thighs, stitches snaked across her shoulder from where she had been cut deeply with a sharp penknife. More bruising, knuckle shaped crossed her upper torso and stomach, deep scratch marks intermingled with the bruising and blood still stained her chin where her lip had been split by a sharp blow, the swelling around her eyes not bruised but red and tender looking. Another piece of paper revealed a photocopy of the x-ray done on Abby's arm, showing clearly two distinct breaks in the fore-arm.

Gibbs felt the old anger of earlier resurface, bile rising in his stomach as he refolded the pieces of paper and handed them back, placing both hands on the counter, leaning his head down willing himself not to be sick.

Tony and McGee watched him in silence, both knew how he was feeling, remembering the way they had both felt looking at those photo's, seeing their boss, a man they both deeply admired and respected, struggle so hard with seeing them made them realise every one of them was human and they weren't alone in being affected by them.

"So what's the plan boss?"

Tony asked the question that Gibbs really didn't want to answer, if he told the truth they would all think he was mad. But then this was his team, they were used to mad, they thrived on the unknown aspects of their investigations. And they deserved the truth, especially from him. Slowly he looked up, glancing from one agent to the other.

"Don't know Tony, I really don't know. We've got to go see the guy, need to get him to leave town, don't care how we do it but we're going to get him to leave Abby alone, whatever it takes, we owe her that much."

Both Tony and McGee nodded, they knew that it wasn't going to be easy and most likely it would take more than verbal persuasion to convince Issac Jacobs to leave Abby alone, but if thats what it took to protect their Lab Tech then they were prepared for what ever was needed.

A tense silence overtook the three men as they all contemplated what was ahead of them, it was only broken as Abby came bounding into the kitchen looking more like the Abby that they had never really noticed was missing, quickly followed by Ziva.

Abby twirled in front of them, her short skirt fanning out as she span around amazingly well on the heeled thigh high boots, her tee-shirt hitching up slightly on her back so that her tattoo was showing between the gap, Gibbs was pleased to see that she had even put her hair up and decided on wearing a collar. Abby stopped spinning, looking slightly dizzy and waited for the reaction she knew was to come.

"Nice Abby, skirt short enough?"

Tony grinned widely, more so when Abby pouted at him and stuck out her tongue.

"You look good Abby."

McGee was smiled at her gently.

"Good to have you back Abs."

Gibbs stepped forward and brushed his lips against the cheek that she offered him as she saw him approach.

Everyone froze as they heard the sound of a car pulling into the driveway, Gibbs was surprised to find that all three of his agents were jumpy enough to have their guns drawn before he could speak to reassure them that it was only Ducky.

"Put them away you idiots, can't have you shooting our medical examiner, imagine what the Director would have to say about that."

Gibbs watched as Ducky entered looking decidedly solemn as he thought probably fit the occasion.

"Hey Duck, thanks for coming."

The medical examiner glanced briefly at Gibbs nodding that he had heard but headed straight for Abby.

"My dear, how are you, why didn't you tell us you silly thing."

Abby immediately went into the proffered hug, rocking gently as her friend held her.

"I'm sorry Ducky, I couldn't."

Releasing her Ducky turned to Gibbs.

"Well what are you waiting for, haven't you got something you should be doing Jethro?"

The look on Ducky's face told Gibbs that he knew exactly what was going to happen. Whether they planned for it to happen or not.

"Yeah in a second Ducky, first I want you to take this."

Gibbs held out his gun, offering it to his friend knowing that at least one of his agents was carrying a spare that he could use if he needed it.

"Oh no Jethro, I could never use that. Keep it, I doubt we're in any danger here."

Gibbs looked from Abby to Ducky, knowing that he was right, they were in the safest place. He nodded stepping towards Abby as he did so.

"We'll be back soon, I promise, keep the doors locked, and don't worry everything will be okay."

Abby held him tightly as he spoke to her, not wanting to let him go, he extracted himself from her grasp and stepped away, letting the others take their turn in promising her they would make everything better again.

Watching his agents file out the door Gibbs threw his keys at Tony, glaring at him just long enough to suggest it would not be wise to sit in the drivers seat.

Turning around he saw Abby and Ducky within feet of him, waiting for him to leave so they could bolt the door after him.

"Call me Gibbs, let me know your okay."

"Course I will Abs as soon as I can I'll call."

Turning to his friend he used the hardest stare he could muster.

"Look after her Doctor Mallard."

"That stare doesn't work on me Agent Gibbs. You know I will, with every ounce of strength in my body."

Gibbs took one last look at Abby and stepped out the door. Pausing long enough to hear the key turning in the lock, then made his way to the car where his other agents were waiting.

It took less time than Gibbs had thought to reach Issac Jacobs house, either the guy lived reasonably close to him or he'd been driving far to quickly. As he pulled to a stop Gibbs thought about the journey, Tony in the passenger seat had been grinning the entire time, grabbing around trying desperately to find something to hold on to as they took the corners, McGee had been in the back seat looking very green, holding on to the seat in front of him. Ziva had spent the whole time laughing at Tony and McGee, grinning manically as they had swerved through traffic. As he heard the other doors of the car open Gibbs came to the conclusion that he must have been driving way to fast, even by his standard.

Stepping out of the car and into line with his agents as they made their way up the pathway to Jacobs home Gibbs had the strangest feeling being watched, although when he looked around there was no-one to be seen. Walking up to the door Gibbs stepped aside to allow Tony the honour of knocking the door, knowing that if he did it he would be more likely to break down the door than wait for it to be answered.

Waiting as Jacobs slowly made his way to the door Gibbs felt all of the agents nervous energy building up, sensing that they were all within a fingertips reach of their weapons. Jacobs opened the door cautiously, his surprise at finding four NCIS agents on his door step obvious.

"Agent Gibbs, nice to see you again. What can I help you with today?"

Glad that he wasn't going to have to introduce himself Gibbs stepped forward, sensing his agents every move behind him. Gritting his teeth to allow himself to speak without sounding insincere Gibbs faced the man in front of him.

"Mister Jacobs we were just wondering if you could answer a few questions for us?"


	9. Chapter 9

**Here we go another chapter and i must apologise for taking so long, but for some reason this chapter just didn't want to be written. but anyway now it's done and i've already started the next chapter so hopefully that will be posted quicker than this one was!!!**

**This chapter is kind of transistional - it doesn't seem to go anywhere but it is leading up to something so please be patient!!**

**As always please review, its so good when you say nice things ;-)**

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Issac Jacobs didn't have time to react to the first blow that caught him across the side of his face, slightly under his left eye. He never even felt the second impact that landed below his ribs as he fell unconscious against the wall.

Gibbs and the rest of the team quickly stepped through the front door, Tony shaking his arm as he closed the door, still feeling the vibrations that came from the contact with Jacobs body. The four team members stood looking at the man on the floor.

Gibbs glanced at the other members of his team, quietly taking in their expressions , amazed at the hatred that was pouring from them towards the unconscious man at their feet.

"McGee, Ziva check the house. Tony give me a hand to get him up."

Ziva drew her gun and walked towards the interior of the house, followed closely by McGee, who threw a disgusted look at Issac Jacobs over his shoulder as Tony and Gibbs attempted to drag him into a vague standing position.

Gibbs listened closely for the shouts of 'clear' as each room was checked and found empty, waiting until both of them had returned before he decided on the next move to take.

"Okay, lets get him secured somewhere, McGee where's best?"

McGee looked flustered at the question directed at him, he'd been lost in thoughts of what he would do to Jacobs if he'd been alone with him, for once not feeling any kind of uncertainty, just clear pure repulsion at the person who had hurt Abby.

"Huh?"

McGee knew that his blank look wasn't helping the situation, quickly going through the layout of the house in his mind, he came to a speedy decision.

"Kitchen's probably best boss, back of the house, plenty of trees out back to keep the noise down though not sure this is the kind of neighborhood they keep a check on each other all that much."

Gibbs simply nodded, motioning to Tony he was ready to move they slowly made their way through the house, speeding up slightly as they arrived at the small kitchen as Jacobs began mumbling slightly, trying desperately to fight against the grogginess fogging his brain.

Tony backtracked and retrieved the backpacks they had left by the front door, extracting several items as he arrived back with the rest of the team. Finding Jacobs having to be held upright in a wooden dining chair, still stunned and unfocused Tony grinned, enjoying the covertness of what they were doing, as he swiftly used a length of rope pulled from the backpack to secure Jacobs hands and feet to the chair, not bothering to check whether he'd cut off the circulation or not.

"Okay Tony, thats enough."

His boss's hand on his shoulder stopped him just short of yanking the bonds even tighter.

"You want him awake now, yes?"

Ziva stepped up quietly behind them, obviously looking forward to the task she assumed would be hers.

"No, not yet."

Gibbs took in his teams surprised looks, knowing they wanted to get on with what was planned as did he, but there were things that needed doing first.

"Leave him be for a while, he'll come round on his own in time. Ziva search the house, look for anything that might connect him to Abby and I mean anything. McGee, go move the car, just in case he does have concerned neighbors, just down the block should do it."

Tossing the car keys in McGee's direction he turned to Tony who had a look of great expectation all over his face.

"Tony, see if this guys got any decent coffee, we're going to need the caffeine."

Without looking up Gibbs knew that his team would follow his words to the letter. Walking over to the door he unlocked it and stepped outside, realising just how warm it was inside the house. Even though the sun was very much out and shining it was still cool in the shade that covered the back yard, reaching into his pocket he pulled out his cell phone and squinted at the screen he stared at it for a few seconds trying to decide if it was a good thing or not that Abby hadn't tried to call him.

Still staring at the screen his mind registered that he could hear McGee talking to Tony in the kitchen behind him, replacing his cell phone as he turned and walked back into the house, stopping dead at the door as he saw that Jacobs was awake and glaring at him with a murderous look in the grey eyes that darkened as he desperately tried to fee himself of the bonds that Tony had so expertly tied.

"What the hell are you lot playing at"

Jacobs was in real danger of tipping the chair he was held in as he turned his arms feeling the rope grind against his skin as his wrists twisted between the knots.

Hearing something large crash to the ground in another room his head spun around trying urgently to look over his shoulder.

"What was that? What are you doing in my house?"

Along with the anger that was obvious in his voice Gibbs could clearly hear fear, smiling lightly to himself he lent forward, his lips almost brushing against Jacobs ear as he spoke very softly, suppressing the simmering desire to jam his gun into the guy's chest and pull the trigger while watching the surprise in his eyes.

"Shh... not ready to talk to you yet, when I am. You'll know about it."

Turning towards the two of his team that were present he saw the same slight smile on their faces that he knew was mirrored on his own, reaching out for the cup that Tony offered him, grateful for the burning sensation in his throat as he took a sip.

"Update McGee, Ziva not done yet?"

"Not yet boss, though she was smiling as I walked past so possible she's got something."

"Got what? What are you looking for? What gives you the right to come into my house, punch me and wreck my house?"

Gibbs spun around, meeting Jacobs eyes and holding the stare without blinking.

"Don't push me, I told you to be quiet. But I will answer one of your questions. You. You gave me the right when you scared my forensic specialist so badly she wouldn't go home, when you tried to ruin her life for the second time, thats when you gave me the right to do this."

Gibbs knew that by the end of this he was shouting and he really didn't care. Breathing hard he watched Jacobs reaction carefully. Gibbs felt his gut react as he saw Jacobs relax slightly, comprehension spreading over his face, as Gibbs clenching his fists by his side he willed himself not to add to the bruises he knew would soon start to show on Jacobs body.

"Ah, you know Abby. From the moment your not so bright guard at NCIS told me she still worked there I wondered how she was. I was surprised none of you knew about me though, I presume you didn't until recently or else we would have had a conversation about it the last time we met wouldn't we? Tell me, has she received my gift do you know?"

Gibbs felt his anger rising and knew that just hearing Jacobs talk would shorten his fuse dramatically.

"You have no right to talk about Abby, do you understand me?"

Gibbs felt Tony an McGee step up behind him, waiting for their chance to teach Jacobs exactly what was meant. Jacobs saw through their intentions and his voice took on a different edge.

"Oh, I understand Agent Gibbs, I merely meant the little present I left her this morning, I believe I got your address right. That is where dear Abby spent the night isn't it? Are you sleeping with her Agent Gibbs, is that why you find this so upsetting? You do know she asked for it don't you all those years ago?"

Gibbs felt his blood run cold as he processed what had just been said. Turning towards Tony and McGee he saw that McGee already had his cell phone out calling Ducky to warn him to check the front door, not to let Abby out of his sight and to make sure they stay out of sight as much as possible.

Faster than his mind could handle Gibbs found himself throwing himself at Jacobs, feeling the chair fall back and Jacobs head crack as it hit the solid ground beneath them. Without willing them to he felt his fists pounding into the soft tissue of Jacobs stomach, registering deep in his mind that the other man had no way of defending himself. After what seemed like an eternity Gibbs felt strong hands pulling him up, and as he allowed himself to recognise those hands he realised the Tony was holding him back as he struggled to free himself and carry on what he had started.

"Boss.... Boss, that enough. McGee just spoke to Ducky, she's okay, he's going to sort out whatever this scumbag left at your place, Abby's not even going to see it."

Gibbs allowed himself to relax, feeling Tony's hold loosen as he sensed that his boss was more in control.

"Gibbs, I believe I have something..... oh have I missed something."

Ziva re-entered the room, carrying a few pieces of paper and surveying the scene in front of her as McGee and Tony yanked the yet again unconscious man upright in the chair.

"It's okay Ziva. The boss here was just letting Mr. Jacobs know how much he's upset Abby, right boss?"

Gibbs rubbed his knuckle, aware that they were going to be very sore in a few hours, if not before.

"Something like that, what you got Ziva?"

He motioned her towards the worktop and looked down as Ziva spread the paper out so he could see each photo. Everyone of them was of Abby, entering her house, at the bar with Tony and Ducky, even at Gibbs' house with Gibbs giving her a peck on the cheek as she was obviously leaving. There were some where she looked so young he could only assume they were from years ago, they had a strange faded look to them as though they had been handled time and again.

Gibbs picked up the last one in the pile staring at the intense green eyes of his favorite person, the photo showed Abby smiling, the glint in her eyes showing she had some remark to make. It was a smile that Gibbs realised he hadn't seen in a long time and he missed it.


	10. Chapter 10

**For what was supposed to be a short chapter this one seemed to go on for a long time!! but here it is.**

**Let me know what you think.**

**Oh and i know the end of this chapter is a little predictable, but it's the only way i could think of for the story to lead up to some sort of decent ending. :-)**

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Hearing a deep groan he turned back as Jacobs slowly regained consciousness for the second time. All three members of his team staring at the bound figure as he realise where he was and again started to struggle, though not with the intensity of before.

"You bastards, I'll make sure you pay for this, you can't do this to me. I've done nothing wrong..."

Issac Jacob's protests were cut short as he started to gag, nausea obviously taking over as he violently vomited over his knees and the floor. Tony only just stepping back in time to stop getting cover. Looking gratefully at what were evidently expensive shoes on his feet.

Gibbs waited until he was sure Jacobs was finished before stepping behind him and speaking softly.

"Looks like you banged your head there, mind you thats what you get for resisting arrest. Don't worry I'll have someone look at that when we get you to headquarters."

"What do you mean resisting arrest. I've done nothing wrong, you assaulted me."

The rage in Jacobs voice was overwhelming, gulping for air as he continued to struggle he glared at every member of the team only to receive looks of hatred and disgust in return.

"Nope, definitely resisting arrest, as well as harassment and intimidation of a government employee, should do it for starters, what do you think guys?"

Gibbs looked up to see his team nodding back.

"Sure looked like he was resisting to me boss."

Tony's face held a grin as he held up out the hand cuffs towards Gibbs.

"Come on, you've got to be kidding, there's no way you're going to get away with this."

The conviction in his voice made Gibbs laugh gently.

"I think I already have."

Gibbs watched as Tony deftly cut at the ropes that were holding Jacobs, McGee and Ziva flanking on either side as a reminder to Jacobs that there was no way out from this, both of them helping the unsteady man to his feet so that Gibbs could attach the handcuffs to his wrists. Gibbs hesitated looking at the state of Jacobs and realising that there was no way he would be able to bring the man into NCIS headquarters looking like he did, even he couldn't get away with that.

"Ziva, McGee get him cleaned up. Not having him stinking up my car."

Gibbs shoved Jacobs forward, not caring if someone caught him or not, Gibbs tensed half expecting the younger man to turn around and try to retaliate for some of the abuse that had been dealt to him,but watched with surprise as Jacobs hung his head in apparent defeat allowing the two agents to direct him towards the bathroom without having to touch him too often.

Tony turned and looked at his boss, registering the look of disgrace on his face but nowhere near brave enough to mention it.

"We got him then boss?"

Gibbs heard the hopeful tone in the agents voice, knowing full well that Tony, as well as the others, were desperate to return to the joys of a rare weekend off.

"Looks that way doesn't it."

The answer was short and quiet as Gibbs turned away form his senior field agent, he wasn't pleased by the way he had gone about it, but at least he knew now that Abby was safe, dealing with it in his own manner was the only way to be absolutely sure.

"Gibbs....!"

Ziva's shout interrupted Gibbs thoughts as the thud of what sounded like a body hitting a hard object followed by the sound of a bullet splintering wood ricocheted around the house, both Gibbs and Tony had drawn their guns from the holsters at their sides before they had even reached the door that lead to the hallway and the rooms that lead off it.

"Ziva!"

Gibbs call echoed down the hall towards the open door where he assumed his two agents had taken the soiled Jacobs to get him cleaned up.

"Gibbs, here."

Tony and Gibbs followed the sound of Ziva's voice to the empty room where they found her crouched underneath a window sill, her gun drawn and pointed towards the closed door on the other side of the room that had what looked like a bullet hole close to the handle. Gibbs crouched beside her, feeling Tony behind them covering the doorway now at their backs.

"What happened? Where's McGee?"

Gibbs whispered in Ziva's ear, careful not to startle her, aware of the fact that she was entirely focused on the closed door.

"McGee thought it best I should wait out here, apparently I can be...... intimidating."

Gibbs knew that Tony was biting back a retort and shifted just enough to let him know he had better not voice it.

"Okay... then what?"

"Jacobs was compliant, he didn't fight us, McGee took Jacobs into the bathroom, asked me to find him some clean clothing, McGee got him into the shower and I passed the clothing through the door"

Ziva's head nodded ahead of her. Her gun still directed towards the door, though her finger now slightly relaxed on the trigger.

"I expected them to not take too long, McGee seemed to know what he was doing. We talked through the door, he said he was just dressing Jacobs, then he went quiet I called but he didn't answer, there were sounds, like a scuffle, but McGee wouldn't answer me. I tried the door but it was locked, I couldn't get in I tried to kick it but it wouldn't move. So I shot at it, then you got here, I haven't tried to get back in there yet."

Gibbs knew that explained the thud he'd heard, it was Ziva colliding with the door, trying to find out what trouble her colleague and friend was in. he placed his hand on her arm. Lowering her gun to the floor.

"Its okay Ziva, we'll get in there"

Gibbs turned seeing Tony's face soften as he looked at the concern on Ziva's face.

"Go outside, look for the bathroom window, keep it covered... and be careful."

Tony left without a word, knowing that if McGee was hurt or needed help any sound could give them away.

"Okay Ziva, lets see what McGee's gone and got himself into."

Gibbs stared to edge forward, knowing that Ziva would follow his every move, holding his hand out to stop her he listened as he heard movement from within the bathroom.

Indicating to Ziva that he wanted her to cover him while he opened to door he pulled out his pocket knife and used it to gently prise the lock mechanism open as quietly as he could, replacing the knife in his pocket he grabbed at the handle, looking out of the corner of his eye and nodding almost imperceptibly at Ziva when he saw that she was ready, her gun drawn level with the handle, waiting for Gibbs to open the door.

"NCIS we're coming in."

Gibbs voice bounced off the door as he turned the handle.

Ziva moved into position just behind him as the door swung fully open, revealing a wrecked bathroom, items strewn all over the floor, the window wide open a breeze blowing in and disturbing the shower curtain which had been ripped from the rail that was still partially attached to the wall.

Ziva and Gibbs looked around, glancing up at the open window to see Tony looking through, eyes wide as he stared at the floor beneath him.

McGee lay on the floor, groaning slightly as he tried desperately to open his eyes, blinking against the harsh light that seemed to pain his eyes as he tried to focus.

Gibbs lent down towards his junior agent, looking at the lump on the back of McGee's head that was virtually growing in front of his eyes, the bruise around it visibly darkening around it. Gently placing his arms underneath him Gibbs slowly lifted McGee into a vague sitting position, watching for any signs that he was causing any distress to the young man.

"Sorry boss. He hit me. Hard. Jacobs' gone boss, and he's got my gun boss, I'm sorry"

McGee's voice was raw and shaky as he tried with all his might to pull himself more upright

Looking down to McGee's belt Gibbs saw the the gun was missing.

Turning towards Ziva, she answered before he could say anything.

"On it Gibbs, Tony and I will start looking."

Looking back at McGee Gibbs had a flash of an earlier conversation.

"Don't bother Ziva, help me get McGee in the car."

Gibbs noted the confused look on his agent's face at the sudden change of direction in the conversation and the sudden input of urgency, looking towards Tony who was still peering through the window.

"Car, get it now."

Gibbs didn't care if his agent heard the undisguised fear in his voice as he threw the keys at Tony watching as his lead agent disappeared quickly without asking questions. Ziva stepped up beside him, helping Gibbs to lightly support McGee as the gently moved him towards the door.

"Why Gibbs? We should look for Jacobs, he can't have got too far."

Gibbs stopped and looked at Ziva with concern and fear openly showing on his face.

"There's no point Ziva. I know exactly where he's going. He said it himself. He knows where Abby spent the night. He's going to my house."


	11. Chapter 11

**Okay, another chapter, and i think this is the last one :-( **

**This all came to me in a bit of a flash, whipped it down in a little over an hour - think i may have caught McGee's free writing bug!!! hope it's okay.**

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Gibbs held on to the dashboard as Ziva took a corner at more speed than he was aware his car could do. Looking back in the car he saw Tony gently placing the coat he had just taken off under McGee's head, protecting it from knocking against the window as Ziva yet again clip a curb sending the car bouncing as she fought for control.

"Really should get him to a doctor boss, think that knock to the head was harder than we thought."

Gibbs almost smiled, despite the pranks and teasing that Tony put McGee through, there was obvious concern in his voice as his senior agent watched his younger colleague fight for consciousness.

"What do you suggest we do Tony? Stick a note on him then slow down enough to open the door and shove him out as we pass the hospital? Ducky will look at him when we get back to my place. That's good enough for me, what about you?"

Gibbs took Tony's silence as acceptance, knowing that each of them would trust their medical examiner with their lives, so to speak.

"Tony, talk to Ducky, have him get Abby into the basement, we'll probably be there before that scumbag, but just in case I want Abby safe."

Gibbs voice had softened, he knew that no matter what was happening, they were all going through it not just him, they didn't deserve his anger.

"On it boss."

Gibbs listened as Tony relayed his instructions to Ducky, begging him to try and keep Abby calm, reassuring him that they were on their way.

"Boss.."

Gibbs turned to see Tony holding out his phone towards him. Before he even took it Gibbs could hear Abby on the other end, her voice almost hysterical.

"Abby... Abby..... ABBY"

Once Gibbs raised his voice there was utter silence, both in the car and on the other end of the phone.

"We're almost there Abs, just a few more minutes I promise. Do what Ducky says..... and trust me."

After listening to a sobbed reply Gibbs flipped the phone shut and threw it behind him knowing that Tony would catch it.

Looking over his shoulder at McGee, Gibbs realised just how bad he actually looked, the smear of blood over his right cheek partially hid how pale he was becoming, his eyes closed but restless as he tried to fight against the pull of lethargy that was evidently trying to overtake him. Tony was right McGee did need a doctor, and soon.

Wheels spinning as they tried to seize some traction on the gravel Ziva turned the car into Gibbs' drive, slamming to a halt within a foot of the front steps.

Barely letting the wheels stop Gibbs opened the car door, un-clipping his gun as he glanced around and stepped out. Nothing seemed to be any different, even the birds in the tree were still singing so Gibbs relaxed slightly, sure that Issac Jacobs hadn't yet arrived.

Turning back to his team he found that Ziva and Tony had joined him in exiting the car, both had their guns out, surveying the area for anything unusual. McGee was still propped up inside the car, unaware of what was going on around him.

"Tony, get Tim. Go around back, get him down to the basement with Ducky, there's a first aid box on the shelf."

Tony simply nodded, gently easing opening the door so that McGee didn't fall onto the driveway he managed to support his team mate as he slowly carefully made his way to the back door, concern for his friend temporarily overshadowing his desperation to stay and catch the bad guy.

Gibbs motioned to Ziva to quietly look around whilst he made his way down the opposite side of the house to the way that Tony and McGee had taken, glancing quickly behind him as he went. Both of them arrived at the back of the house, Ziva shaking her head as she saw him to indicate that nothing seemed out of the ordinary.

Holstering his gun Gibbs slowly turned the handle to the back door, not surprised when he entered to find Tony's gun pointed at him from the kitchen doorway. Glad that none of his agents were particularly trigger happy Gibbs nodded at Tony as he moved into the kitchen, quickly followed by Ziva who didn't replace her gun, but stood by the door with her weapon lowered.

Before he could even ask Tony answered his questions with the ease that came with being a senior field agent.

"McGee's down with Ducky boss. Says he should be okay, but really should be at the hospital. Abby's in a bad way though, she'd hiding in the boat wouldn't come out for me or Ducky. He said she's got your bottle of jack in with her as well boss."

Gibbs sighed quietly to himself.

"Tony, Ziva outside, take the car, canvass the area. Be careful. Give it an hour, then come back If you see the bastard shoot him."

Gibbs looked at his agents stunned by the total glee he saw in their faces.

"Wound him, don't kill him."

Gibbs watched as their faces fell as he clarified himself.

"We need him alive, I want him alive. We've got him on assaulting a federal employee as well now, going to make sure he suffers for a long time, just like he made Abby do. Am I understood?"

Both agents nodded reluctantly, they knew what Gibbs said made sense.

Gibbs waiting for them both to disappear before he locked the door and glancing briefly at his watch. Leaning his head against the cool glass as he tried to collect his thoughts, out of the corner of his eye he caught sight of his waste bin, aware that it was normally hidden within a cupboard his hand automatically went to his gun as he slowly walked over to investigate, his gut aching as he thought about why it had been moved.

Gibbs cut the knot from the top of the bag with his knife before carefully peering inside, suddenly remembering the present that Jacobs had said he left at Gibbs' door.

Inside the bag were several dozen black rose stems, each of them had been beheaded, every single petal was pooled at the bottom of the bag, glancing behind himself quickly Gibbs reached in a picked up the small card that lay about half way down, barely registering the scratches that appeared as he pulled back his arm scraping past the thorns still attached to the stems.

Gibbs flipped the card over in his fingers then held it at arms length and waited for the words to focus.

_'Don't ever sleep, don't ever rest, look behind you, I'll be there.'_

Feeling bile rise in his throat Gibbs threw the piece of card back into the bag.

Knowing that Ziva and Tony had better find Jacobs before he did Gibbs turned and made his way out of the kitchen meaning to make his way down to the basement.

Walking slowly through the quiet hallway Gibbs listened to the muffled sounds coming from the basement slightly ahead of him.

Ducky's low voice carried through, soothing and calm over the top of a dull thudding and sobbing which Gibbs knew came from Abby, pounding against the hull of his boat and scared out of her mind, an image of Abby crying came to his mind and instantly Gibbs felt as though someone was tearing at his heart. He knew she trusted him unquestionably but right now he felt he was letting her down. He was supposed to be protecting her, not making her hide away in fear of her life.

Reaching for the door handle Gibbs froze as something moved in the corner of his vision. Turning his back to the wall and slowly sliding down it Gibbs looked towards the front door where the movement had come from.

A shadowed figure was outlined through the tinted glass, the sound of metal scraping in the lock reached him as he glanced at his watch, aware that neither of his agents should be back for a while. Noting that little more than twenty minutes had past since Tony and Ziva had left Gibbs knew who was at the door.

Moving as slowly as he could so not to attract attention from his unwanted visitor Gibbs edged his way towards the door, glad that the basement door was on the shadowed side of the hall. Reaching a small table, where he normally threw his keys as he walked in, Gibbs crouched as low as he could , gun raised level with the table top and waited for the door to open.

Gibbs waited as the intruder hesitated opening the door, obviously spooked by some sound or movement not noticeable by Gibbs.

Slowly the door swung open, Gibbs was silently glad that the front door didn't make the same sound as the back door knowing that any sounds would carry to the basement and scare Abby even more. Gibbs watched as Issac Jacobs cautiously glanced around the door frame, assessing what he could see before him. Without giving him any chance to step foot within the house Gibbs stood.

"NCIS I suggest you stay where you are."

Gibbs found himself ducking fast back behind the table as Jacobs shot inaccurately at him with McGee's gun as he turned to run back down the front steps.

Hearing Abby scream as the shot fired spurred Gibbs quickly to his feet and out of the front door, seeing Jacobs feet slide on the gravel driveway as he tried to make it to the road, Gibbs raised his gun.

"Stop. Or I will shoot."

For a split second Gibb's mind flashed back to a case they had been working on a while ago.

_'He watched as McGee chased the suspect through the building, wondering where his young agent had found this reserve of strength. McGee and the suspect had exited the building, running at a tremendous speed across the street, McGee had unbelievably been scarcely missed by no less than three cars before the suspect had been hit and sent flying by a slowing vehicle. By the time he had got to his agent McGee's gun was in the suspects face, the look of complete hate and repulsion fighting for dominance on his face as his finger had tightened on the trigger. Gibbs had reached him just in time and managed to get him to lower his weapon. 'if you were going to shoot him McGee, you should have done it whist he was running'."_

Pulling himself back into the present Gibbs saw that Jacobs had almost made it to the tarmac road that lay outside Gibbs' drive.

"Issac Jacobs stop. Last warning."

Jacobs glanced slightly over his shoulder, the fear in his eyes failed to influence Gibbs as his finger tightened on the trigger as the two shots that followed echoed off the surrounding buildings and trees.

Issac Jacobs faltered forward a few steps then dropped slowly to the ground, disturbing the gravel as he slid forward.

Gibbs stepped forward off the front steps and walked cautiously toward the man, keeping his gun in front of him.

Gibbs stood silently looking at the dead man in front of him, knowing that it had been stupid to shoot and that if his judgment hadn't been clouded by his desire to protect his team Issac Jacobs would probably now be on his way to interrogation rather than lying dead on his driveway.

Looking up as he heard the brakes of his car scream to a stop just outside his driveway. They couldn't have been too far away to have heard the shots that evidently had brought them racing back Staring at Ziva and Tony as they both took in the scene in front of them Gibbs could see the relief almost pouring from them that it was over. Although Gibbs could have sworn there was almost a hint of disappointment from both of them as well.

"Hey boss you got him. Nice shot by the way"

Tony stepped around the body in order to get a better look at Jacobs face and the two bullet holes in his back, perfectly level with each other.

"Obviously Tony, no other way he could have turned up on my driveway like this."

Tony grinned to himself, the boss was sounding more like his old self already.

"So much for not shooting to kill though boss."

Gibbs simply glared at his agent, causing Tony to shuffle his feet and look at the floor like a school boy caught in a prank.

"You two stay here, check the boot of the car, this is now a crime scene. You know what to do."

Gibbs tone of voice and the wave of his arms indicated for them to get on with it. Turning away from them confident that Tony and Ziva could carry on without him Gibbs started to make his way back to the house.

"I'll send Ducky out, so long as he finished with McGee. Going to tell Abby its over. She doesn't have to be afraid any more."

With a slight smile on his face Gibbs made his way towards the basement, knowing that to see his forensic specialist back to her usual bouncy Goth self was all he needed to know this had all been worthwhile.

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**So there we go. what do ya think?????? for a one-shot it kinda got out of hand, but i've enjoyed it. hope you have too.**

**As i said i think this is the last chapter, let me know what you think.**


	12. Chapter 12

okay, here goes, definitely the last chapter now, let me know what you think.

for a one-shot this sort of got a mind of it's own.

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Walking back into the house and towards the basement Gibbs felt his anger dissipate as he wondered what he was going to say to Abby.

She had probably already figured out what the shot she had heard signified, although she wouldn't be aware of the outcome, and Gibbs knew from experience that she would be ashamed that one of her friends had been injured whilst trying to protect her.

Gibbs stepped through the front door without looking back, confident that his agents were more than capable of completing what needed to be done without his supervision.

Walking through the small door that lead to his basement he had to quickly cover his surprise as he found himself face to face with his own sniper rifle, McGee aiming it carefully and with purpose from the landing several steps down from the door.

Gibbs watched as McGee's face registered who had walked through the door, and moved slowly down the steps and placing a hand on his youngest agents shoulder.

"Hey Tim, how are you feeling?"

Gibbs could see the pain in his eyes and noticed how slowly McGee moved, trying not to cause any sudden movements as he stood.

"Fine boss, Ducky says I need to go and be checked out but I'll survive."

McGee looked towards the door, his desire to know what had happened obvious.

"It's over Tim, that scumbag isn't going to bother Abby no more."

Aware that it was unlikely that Gibbs would elaborate, the look of concern left McGee's face replaced briefly with a look of acknowledgment as the meaning of Gibbs' words sank in. Waiting until he received a almost imperceptible nod from his boss, McGee handed over the rifle in his hands and raced up the few steps and out the door, evidently intent on getting the full story from his colleagues.

Gibbs waited until he heard the front door slam before he turned and made his way down the remaining steps to the floor of his basement acknowledging his medical examiner as he reached the bottom.

Ducky registered the look of concern on Gibbs' face and pointed the the inside of the unfinished boat that took up most of the floor space in the basement, Gibbs reached out and took hold of the dusty sheet that covered the beams of wood and pulled it towards him.

Curled up inside, in between the beams was Abby, fast asleep but full of tension that showed on her face as a scowl as her eyes darted beneath her eyelids.

Gibbs' eyes darted towards Ducky, demanding and explanation without asking anything.

"I gave her a mild sedative after you left Jethro, she was pacing so much I thought your carpet was going to wear out and it was obvious she hadn't rested properly in some time."

Gibbs nodded in response but said nothing, knowing that there was more to come. Ducky was never one to make a long story short.

"After called we made our way down here, Abby took some persuading, but she was starting to get a little drowsy by that point anyway, so it really wasn't that difficult."

Ducky turned away from Gibbs and reached for something on the workbench, as soon as he turned back around Gibbs realised he knew where the rest of the story was heading. In the doctor's hand was a half empty bottle of bourbon that was most definitely full when he had brought it a couple of days before.

Ducky coughed slightly to get Gibbs' attention and carried on.

"She found this on the shelf I'm afraid, I though one or two small ones may help calm her, I mean you should have heard her Jethro, the poor girl was near hysterical and nothing I said helped. Well by the time I'd secured the door and got back to her this was all that was left."

Ducky held up the bottle again for emphasis and looked towards Gibbs, shifting slightly as his friend walked towards him and held out his hand to retrieve the bottle.

"Its okay Ducky, probably better that she slept through it anyway."

Gibbs looked questioningly towards the doctor hoping to confirm that Abby had indeed missed the commotion that had taken its toll on his home.

"Indeed she did Jethro, she never even knew young Timothy was in here. By the way don't be hard on the boy, it was me who acquired your rifle from the drawer, you may need new locks now I fear. I do apologise."

"Never apologise Ducky, it's worth new locks to know Abby's safe."

Gibbs grinned at his friend then turned toward the sleeping Abby still curled up on his boat.

"They probably need you upstairs Ducky, better go and make sure they're not causing any more damage to my house than they need to."

Ducky looked between Gibbs and the sleeping form on the boat obviously torn between doing his job and continuing to protect the teams favorite forensic scientist.

Gibbs bent down, slowly examining Abby as she slept, he reached out and gently swept away a few strands of hair that were falling over her cheek.

"Its okay Ducky, I'm not going to leave her, she's safe with me."

The medical examiner seem content that Abby would be safe and started towards the stairs, turning when he reached the first step.

"Be gentle with her Jethro, just......"

Ducky paused, searching for the right way of communicating what he was trying to say.

"Just don't hurt her, she needs you more than ever right now. She needs to know that you'll always be there for her."

Gibbs continued to watch Abby sleep as Ducky left, letting his friends' words sink in trying to decipher the true meaning behind them.

Slowly he ran his hand over Abby's cheek and over her shoulder, watching as her features softened as she registered his touch almost as though she was soothed by his presence.

"Gibbs...."

Abby whispered the word as she slowly opened her eyes, trying desperately to focus them through the sedative and the alcohol.

"I'm here Abs, I'm here."

As gently as he could Gibbs lifted Abby until he could sit beside her, lowering her head until it was securely in his lap as he lent his head against the beams surrounding them. Looking down Gibbs could see a slight smile playing on her lips as she drifted in and out of sleep, more content now that she knew where he was.

Gibbs closed his eyes, suddenly overcome with exhaustion as he started to absent mindedly stroke Abby's hair.

"Hmm.... that's nice Gibbs, I love you, you know that don't you?"

Abby's words were slightly mumbled and slurred, but unmistakable enough to startle Gibbs into opening his eyes and stop his hand from moving.

Quickly processing what she had said he willed his heart to slow down, knowing that between the pill that Ducky had given her and the bourbon she had prescribed herself it was nothing more than her usual drunken declaration. Deciding to ignore whatever desire was filling his chest, and the surprisingly warm feeling in his gut, he smiled down at Abby as she shifted to face him.

"Hey you're awake."

Gibbs waited for Abby to wake properly, for the few moments that everything seemed normal to end and everything she had been through over the past few weeks to come back to her. He was surprised when her eyes started to lower again as though sleep was overcoming her. Without any warning she suddenly shot out of his lap and landed on her feet on the floor with a speed that amazed him.

"Gibbs.... where am I? what are you doing here? what happened? where's ducky? Why was I asleep? What happened?"

The more questions she asked the louder and more coherent Abby's voice got until Gibbs stood and placed his hands on either side of Abby's body, pulling her towards him as quickly as he could in an attempt to calm her.

"Shh.... Abby one question at a time, and you're starting to repeat yourself. Calm down its okay, I'm here."

Feeling Abby's breathing starting to steady Gibbs stepped back slightly to allow himself a good look at the woman in front of him.

Abby looked even more pale than usual, her hair was ruffled from sleep and her eyes were darting wildly from side to side as she tried to organise her thoughts. But Gibbs could see that she was starting to realise the significance of him being there and as the realisation hit her she fell sobbing into his arm.

Gibbs simply held her, making soothing sound into her hair, rubbing his hand gently round the small of her back until Abby pulled away from him and stared hard into his eyes.

"He's dead isn't he."

Gibbs didn't reply, it hadn't been a question.

"I'm sorry Gibbs, I'm sorry you had to do that for me."

Gibbs placed his thumb under Abby's chin and lifted her face up.

"No need to apologise Abby, there will never be any question of what I will do to keep you safe. I would do it again in a heartbeat."

Abby's eyes started to fill with tears and Gibbs reached up to gently wipe them away aware that her eyes never left his. A concerned looked passed over his face.

"What is it Abby? Whats wrong?"

Abby shook her head, smiled and reached up to touch his cheek, running her fingers along his jawbone whist watching for any sign of a reaction.

"Nothing Gibbs, just wondering how many time you will save my life before I find a way of thanking you properly."

Gibbs swallowed deeply, aware that the pounding was returning to his chest and his mind was slowly but surely catching up with his heart and his gut.

Copying Abby's stare he captured her hand and gently kissed the fingertips as he wrapped both of her small hands inside his.

"You thank me every day Abby, I don't need anything else. So long as you're safe."

Abby released her hand from his and sighed deeply as she lent her forehead against his shoulder.

"Not exactly what I meant Gibbs."

Gibbs bent his head to place a kiss on her hair, unable to stop as she lifted her head he brushed his lips against hers, pulling away as quickly as he could he was surprised at the look of disappointment that flickered across her face.

"I meant what I said earlier."

Abby's whisper barely reached his ears, but he still couldn't stop his heart from thumping hard against his ribcage as he realise what she was on about.

"When abs?"

Gibbs was startled to realise that his throat had dried up and he struggled to get the word out.

"When I was waking up......"

Abby trailed off, then with a confidence he hadn't seen in her for a long time she lifted her head and stared directly at him, her green eyed stare making him feel more alive than he could ever remember.

"I love you, always have Gibbs, at least for as long as I've known you. I ...."

Finally deciding that he had heard enough and that his heart and his gut were always right the rest of her sentence was cut off as Gibbs lent forward and captured her lips with his.

Reluctantly parting Gibbs looked down at Abby and grinned at the smile that was now covering her face.

The short silence that followed wasn't awkward but comforting as Gibbs held Abby tighter than he could ever remember doing.

"Love you too Abs."

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apologise for the long wait for this chapter, hope you thought it was worth it. reviews are always welcome

thank you for reading.

THE END!!!!!


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